Differences
by Kaidious
Summary: One prince Kanda Yuu comes across someone who ignored the new orders. Yullen. AU. Sorry not good at summaries.
1. Orders

_Disclaimer: Characters belong to none other than Hoshino-sensei_

_Had this story for quite some time already but only just decided to put it up. My second yullen fic.  
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Chapter one

Orders

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* * *

Kanda tucked his hands into his pocket and continued his walk. His midnight colored hair held in a high ponytail with a gold ring-like clip and clad in a simple grey shirt with a black coat, Kanda Yu is currently on patrol of his kingdom. Yes, patrol. Kanda Yu was the youngest adopted son of the local king by the name Froi Tiedoll, thus is the prince of the country. A typical countrywide patrol is to make sure everything was safe within the kingdom but that's not the case for the prince. He was making sure that everyone was following the new orders, no matter why the orders were passed.

* * *

"Yuuuuu, anything you want?" Froi Tiedoll asked desperately.

The prince had only demanded once for an elegant black katana and never had he asked for anything else from the king since.

"Che. I don't need anything" Kanda replied curtly. He did not like using his privileges as the prince though he could not deny life as one itself is pretty good, even without all those excessive flamboyant display items in his house.

"Anything aside murder can do, Yuu, just bloody name it!" the boy with purple tattoos under his eye added in, "I am tired of hearing the old man chanting for ages!"

"Shut up Daisya," Kanda snapped.

A tall man with tanned skin joined in with his sudden comment, "I agree with Daisya, Kanda"

Veins could be seen evidently popping out on Kanda's head as he closed his eyes while clenching his fist, almost as if trying to forcibly think up of something that he would plausibly even want.

"Yuuuuu, so do you want my latest painting? Or do you want some accessories? Or –" The king continued as if he had not been hearing anything his adopted sons had said.

"FINE! Make the people in the country get dark-colored hair!" Kanda spat.

A silence followed right after the youngest prince's outburst as everyone stared at him wordlessly.

…

…

"What?" Daisya exclaimed.

"That's an unusual thing to want, Kanda." Marie said calmly.

"If that's what you want, I'll send down the order tonight." Froi Tiedoll adjusted his spectacles and smiled.

"Che." Was all the said prince's response as he turned and stormed to his room.

* * *

Bright things hurt his eyes, and that is all the reason for it. And they really stood out a lot. Not to forget that it never failed to reminded him of a certain idiot. Although that idiot changed his hair color a shade darker due the orders by now.

"Yu-chan!" a voice canon-ed across the streets. Without further warnings, a dark-red headed person jumped on Kanda from behind as he asked, "Missed me?"

"Che. I missed the time you were not around and" Mugen was immediately out of its sheath as it is held once again against the throat of a certain Lavi. "What the fuck did you just call me you usagi!"

"Chill Yuu, chi-" but was cut off as he was given the menacing glare that promised death.

Kanda never liked people calling him by his first name, even if it's by his family though they never listened so he could not care less anymore, but he just could not stand having a very loud baka usagi calling him that. "What. Did. You. Call. Me," he hissed dangerously.

Lavi swallowed nervously and decided to back away for now. He inched back, followed by another step, and another. Then something caught his eyes that could distract the advancing samurai who was intending to kill him. "Hey someone has white hair!" he tried to sound surprised, pointing at a barber shop.

The Japanese glared at him for a moment before turning to look at who it was that dared defied the orders and Lavi took the opportunity to slip away. Not before giving a warning to the said person with the striking hair since he was the traitor who sold the person out, "THE PRINCE IS HEADING TO THE BARBER!" Lavi shouted. He then quickly ran into the crowd, all the while apologizing to the victim for white, or silver, is very bright no matter what in the prince's dictionary.

Kanda dismissed the throng of people looking at him after what commotion the usagi caused. With a 'che' as he realized the idiot escaped, he headed for the barber shop.

"Oi, that geezer over there," he called. At the same time, the wind chime made a sound at his arrival and all the barbers and the counter person turned to look at their guest.

"Welcome dear customer," they said in unison.

Kanda stood there with slightly widen eyes as he stared at the boy with white hair. Apparently it was not a freaky old man but a young teen. But it was not that that made Kanda transfixed to the spot. The boy had an inverted red star above his left eye and the tattoo stretched in a line down his cheeks, curving to the right some point under his eye, with an additional red line across the long line. He had abyss silver eyes and as the boy's hair moved a little from the wind of the stirring fan, for some reason, the word "attractive" flashed through the prince's mind for a moment.

The rest of the workers returned to what they had been before the newly arrived customer came. However, Kanda held the gaze of the white haired teen stubbornly. After a few seconds of staring, the teen spoke. "Were you calling me?"

Kanda snapped out of his thoughts. "Of course it's you, you're the only one with the geezer's hair," he answered in annoyance, annoyed that a boy rendered him of speech, even if it's just a second.

"I know my hair's silver and easily mistaken for an old man but please confirm things next time before calling people that," the boy said politely.

"It's white, moyashi," Kanda corrected, folding his arms.

The boy twitched. "Yes it is silver. And I wonder what you just called me, mister." Sarcasm obviously lurked in his question.

A pause before Kanda replied, a smirk in place. "I just called you moyashi, moyashi."

The boy twitched more. "I didn't hear that, mister."

"I'll be glad to repeat that I had just called you moyashi," Kanda's smirk grew a little wider, "Moyashi."

All the workers by then had already halted their work and looking interestedly at the interaction between the two. But none of them interrupted, there's a murderous atmosphere around Allen that they rarely saw but knew to fear. But a brown haired man who was the nearest to Allen still decided to whisper a quick warning, "Oi Allen! He's the prince!"

"It's Allen! A-L-L-E-N Allen, you BaKanda!" the boy snapped, veins popping all over his head, totally ignoring his acquaintance.

Kanda was surprised at that; he didn't know the boy knew who he was, though he twisted his name into something irritating. "Did you know who the fuck you just ridicule damn moyashi."

"Oh yes I do, oh the third prince by the name Kanda Yuu." Allen sneered with full force.

"You know?" Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"First prince is a tall tanned man with the name Noise Marie, while the second prince is a playful person with purple tattoos under his eyes by the name Daisya Barry. The youngest third prince is a japanese with long hair with a katana named Kanda Yuu. I am sure everyone knows you idiot." Allen snapped_. Besides, someone already said that a prince was heading here._

"Che. Well then you should know the consequences of insulting a prince on top of disobeying orders?" Kanda snorted. "Because one, you insulted me and second, _I_ think your hair has damn bright a color."

The acquaintances only shut their eyes in mild frustration as if they knew that that was going to happen and swiftly turned back to work. However, it took a moment for Allen to absorb what Kanda had said. Instantly realizing he had just let his anger got the better of him, he swallowed nervously and just stared at the prince before him. _Oh shit…

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_Oh my god, i am fucking unnerved. I SO damn nearly failed my final yr exam compo for story. Like wtf? The unknown unseen unheard-of tcher that marked our class has heaven-and-earth differences in marking criteria from our eng tcher... Damn, did i really wrote __out of topic... Plus my geog papers are like, disappointing. AND i just had to get a finger hurt by a flying netball today on top of all the heartbreaking scores. Wtf._

_Reviews are appreciated.  
_


	2. Control

_Disclaimer: Characters belong to none other than Hoshino-sensei_

_Kept wondering whether to add more to this chapter, finally decided to just end there so here it is._

_Had fun writing this out hehh, hope you enjoy.  
_

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Chapter two

Control

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* * *

It took a moment for Allen to absorb what Kanda had said. But instantly realizing he had just let his anger get the better of him, he swallowed and just stared at the prince before him. _Oh shit…_

"H-Hey, well I-I am sorry okay! Let's take it like nothing happened… alright?" Allen smiled timidly at the angered prince.

"Che. Finally realizing who you're arguing with eh, moyashi," Kanda rolled his eyes, though a smirk tugged at the end of his lips.

Allen's eyebrow unconsciously twitched. _What the fuck did he cal- wait wait. I don't need more trouble, and especially not fines… Control._ Letting out a long breath to calm down a little, he opened his mouth to speak. _  
_

"But I am not letting this go so easily," the prince continued before Allen could say anything, "tomorrow the guards will be here."

Allen blinked._ He is going to send guards? This is more than just money aren't it…_

"Dye your hair black before dawn moyashi, then maybe your sentence will be lighter," Kanda sneered. He was already walking swiftly towards the exit by then. Allen was squeezing all his brain juice trying to quickly think of a way to negotiate the case with the about-to-leave prince.

"Don't even try to run, it is futile" the prince called, obviously smug, as he looked back at Allen who was still focusing on his own thoughts.

" Hey girl, who said you can take my idiot apprentice with you," a hoarse voice interrupted.

The two's attention instantaneously snapped towards the source of it and a taller man stood behind Kanda, effectively blocking out the exit. The wind chime sounded once more as the person let himself in to the barber shop nonchalantly. Long scarlet hair and a half-mask came in sight as the barber shop was suddenly enveloped with a thick heavy smell of alcohol and smoke.

"Welcome dear customer," the employees in the shop said together once again.

"Girl, he's my bank so you can't take him away alright," the man continued, easily ignoring the greeting.

The prince growled as he turned his face to glare death at the taller one with alcohol stench who was standing so close to his back that it felt that the man was practically leaning on him. The said man's eyes widened slightly and leant back as he finally noticed the being standing before him was male as he took in the physique of Kanda by looking the prince from up to bottom.

"Damn Cross, I am not your bank," Allen sighed as he decided to speak again. "H-Hey prince Kanda, how about not locking me in a cell the first thing tomorrow and I'll see what I can do for you?"

Kanda shifted his attention back to the white haired teen now that his exit was cut off for a moment.

"Che. What can a useless moyashi do for me?" he scoffed.

"Oi apprentice, I don't care what you can or cannot do for him, pack your stuff and we'll leave tonight, I am not risking any chances of getting my bank getting frozen by a bastard who look like a girl," Cross said as if it was the most natural thing in the world to say.

Kanda shot a glare toward the red-haired man behind him before threatening, "Try leaving."

Cross bit the cigarette between his lips and smirked down at the prince, "Try catching us."

However, Allen was ignoring his said master, eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated on what he was good at all his life to be able to be of enough service to the prince so the latter would considered not locking him up for good. God, Allen had just got used to this city. And no, he can't spend his life in a bloody jail. Who would want to anyway? And all this was caused only because of his lack of self control. Damn. But what was he good at? Well, he could only think of poker, some juggling, sneaking, stealing, and… Allen glanced nervously at the long haired prince who was glaring at his master while the man smirked mockingly back at him.

"How about I help you cut your hair…?" Allen suggested hesitantly.

At that, the entire shop went tensely silent for a second as every being froze in their actions.

"What… the fucking hell moyashi," the prince whirled slowly and deadpanned straight at the younger teen.

"What?" Allen heard himself throw out a retort as if on instinct, before he mentally palmed himself and continued with a softer tone. "Well, your hair is long so I thought maybe you need someone to help you trim it…"

"Che. You'd be gone before you even touch a strand of my hair brat," Kanda gritted the words out.

"Oi girly-man, " Cross' veins popped out on his uncovered forehead as he pulled the said prince's high ponytail down with a force that turned Kanda's sight upside down despite the struggle, "your fucking hair hit me."

"Let go of my hair you damn bastard," Kanda demanded as his arms started to shake in anger.

"And if I say no you bitch," Cross bit his cigarette until it looked ready to snap any moment and towering over the prince, he glared like a demon through his one eye unhidden by the mask.

"Prince Kanda," Allen called, frowning at how far the topic had gotten and all but wanted to quickly get the problem settled and over with. Then ten seconds passed and the said prince had not even turned in his direction. Blatantly ignored, he clenched his fists tighter and repeated in a louder voice, "Prince Kanda?"

The said Kanda lifted a hand around Cross' hand on his ponytail and tried to pry the redhead's hand off, all the while glaring with venom. _Damn bastard. _Cross did nothing but returned the favor with his glare as he grasped the hair between his fingers tighter.

Allen's mouth began to twitch as he was suddenly ignored for the umpteenth time in ten damn minutes and he just could not register the words whispered to him in the background by his acquaintances of "Allen just forget it," or "Allen ignore them." Digging his nails deeper into his own palms again, he croaked out, "Prince… Kanda…" As if on cue, the two older men at the exit started doing an arm fight as the prince wrestled to pull the other's hand off his oh-so-lovely hair while the drunken forced his hand back down. In an instant, he almost saw a blaze before his eyes and it was the last straw.

"DAMN IT KANDA YU, DON'T ACT LIKE A WIMPY GIRL WHO ONLY CARES ABOUT THEIR HAIR!" Allen all but yelled at the two men, disregarding who was who in that fight.

* * *

Kanda waved his katana around and scanned the isolated area surrounding by washed blocks of old buildings that he arrived at as he released a breath and wiped a sweat droplet that formed from chasing after one white-haired teen. _Damn moyashi, runs fast doesn't he._ "I know you're fucking somewhere here, get the hell out right now moyashi" he commanded into the air.

_Like hell I will. _Allen panted as softly as he could while he pressed his back to a cool stone wall to regain his breath. After a minute, he slowly straightened and leant his head back against the stone as he shut his eyes and frowned. _There's no turning back now is there… Whatever, he is such an annoying prince._ He then slit open his eyes to the sight of a darkening sky over his head and scowled. It's going to rain. But at least that means the prince should be leaving soon.

The said prince narrowed his eyes as he spotted a lone figure against a wall when he randomly walked around the area, and smirked. _Finally found you damn moyashi._ However, just as Kanda wanted to head towards the figure, he heard hurried footsteps from behind. Pausing in his stride, he turned his head and saw a group of about fifty people who wore red clothes and metal plates arriving hastily. He felt like smirking just a little wider as the armies came forward to join him. "Che. I guess I owe Daisya one," he made a note to himself as he recalled having called his second brother to send him some people due to an _emergency_. He just would not call Marie for this type of situations, for that tall man would surely ask for details. Kanda signaled the group gathered before him to the figure in distant, to which the armies all nodded dutifully. But as he shifted to face the figure ahead again, he caught sight of another taller figure and soon, both of them started to run. Cursing, Kanda took to his heels after the moyashi and the other person, who he knew would be the red-haired bastard back in the shop, his armies following tightly behind.

* * *

_Alright i screwed up my EOY and we're supposed to choose combinations for next year which i am totally at a lost. I may want to try triple but then my maths is messed up and my science wasn't great... so probably can't even if i want but here i don't know if i should at least try for it by making it my first choice. Haiz am i supposed to laugh? It's plain dark humor how many careless mistakes i can make. Zzz.  
_

_Anyways, thanks for those who reviewed/story alert this previously~ A little lazy to reply reviews but stilllllllll~_

_Reviews are appreciated.  
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	3. Chase

_Disclaimer: Characters belong to none other than Hoshino-sensei_

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Chapter three

Chase

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A heavy droplet thud down heavily on the hard ground, before another one followed. Then a gush of violent wind roared and a shower of cold needles began to fall from the clouds.

"Shit," Allen groaned as he lifted his arm above his eyes to prevent rain droplets from blurring his view and continued forward. _And why the hell are they still following us! It's freaking raining…_

"Oi idiot apprentice," Cross called and pulled him into a small alley between two blocks of ancient buildings but the hasty footsteps behind them remained successful in keeping up, tailing them again into the alley. The red-haired man frowned and started to move once more, practically dragging the younger around a corner in the narrow alley since Allen was falling behind. Allen scowled at being dragged around like a broken doll but decided to keep silent. That was, until he caught sight of something ahead that made his eyes widened in panic.

"I-Idiot master! Do you even know where you're going!" Allen shouted at the taller male. In distance, there stood a high ivory wall connecting the buildings surrounding them and that indicated nothing but the obvious. A damn dead end. His heart seemed to beat more rapidly as predictions of what was going to happen next flooded his mind. However, just as Allen began to hold his breath in unconsciously, he was brought to a stop the same time a puddle was stepped on boisterously. An awkward moment of silence ensued between them despite the drawing near of footsteps behind them could still be heard in the background. Reluctantly, the white-haired looked up at Cross only to find the red-haired scanning the walls around them. "Fuck, shishiou you really didn't know!" the younger flared, although he was already expecting that but having it confirmed made it more unsettling. To top it off, the noises behind them were getting really…really near. Cross snorted in response and spoke for the first time since they entered the alley, "What do you think?"

* * *

"Where is Yuu-kun?" the brown haired king asked in curiosity as he pushed his falling spectacles back up onto the bridge and sat down on the soft seating of a tall red dining table chair.

"Who knows," Daisya rolled his eyes from his seat beside the king and crisscrossed his legs on the table nonchalantly. "He wanted some damn armies for god knows what."

Nudging his brother's legs on the wood, Marie replied quietly, "He's supposed to be on a patrol."

Froi Tiedoll raised a brow and tapped his chin at that, "isn't he taking too long then?"

Then, loud rain drops falling onto metal window rails noisily drew the three's attention away from the elegantly clothed table. A moment of contemplation seemed to hang over them while they watched the rain before Tiedoll rose and shut the windows with a 'clank'.

"Yuu hates being in the rain…" the king spoke hesitantly as he turned to pace back to his seat.

"So there must be something wrong if he's still out there." Marie continued, crossing his tanned arms.

Daisya shrugged and slang his arms behind his head, preferring to stare at the ceiling. Not long after, a thought hit him hard and caused him to cringe inwardly. "Don't tell me it was a real emergency…" he muttered to himself, but it was loud enough to be heard. He felt two pairs of eyes zoning in on him almost instantly and swallowing nervously, his eyes darted everywhere else about the room.

"Masters, your dinner are here," two maids and two barters called from the hallway. Getting no responses, one of the shorter maids tentatively pushed the door to dining room open to peek inside, only to find an empty room, heavy droplets hitting relentlessly on the closed windows.

* * *

"Damn it moyashi you'll pay for this," Kanda growled as more cold droplets fell onto his already damp hair. Clenching his fists tighter around his katana, he proceeded faster in attempt to catch the white-haired teen so he could get out of the rain already. Focusing on his sight ahead, he had no problems seeing a redhead bastard pulling the target round a corner despite the rain that was only getting heavier. He and his armies then pulled up at the corner and followed the two into an alley without hesitation.

As he swiftly turned into the alley, Kanda glimpsed the figures turning yet another corner in the narrower road. Almost sighing, he forced his slightly tired legs to move faster to catch up to his target, ignoring the puddles beneath his feet that splashed continually. With a skid, he then rounded into the corner easily with his armies. Kanda only had just enough time to get his legs to stop in time at the speed he was going, to avoid knocking into a high solid wall.

"What the hell?" he glared, pissed, as he instantaneously whirled about to scrutinize his surroundings, wet hair in the ponytail fanning out in the motion. Sound of rain droplets battering the ground was the only audible noise for the time when the armies searched high and low, knocking at the stone of the buildings and trying to climb over the impossibly tall washed wall. Snapping his eyes for a moment, Kanda sheathed his katana and roared at the soldiers, "We're heading back!" With that, he stalked off distances ahead of his armies, leaving the alley.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" a rather familiar voice made its way to the prince's ears and Kanda could not help but flinch. "Don't tell me…" he slurred under his breath as his head slowly rotated to his right. Veins popped over his forehead as he sighted a browned hair old man running towards him wide-armed, Kanda brought a hand before him like a stopping sign. The old man dashed right into his palm and paused dramatically before putting his arms back by his side and stepped back.

"Yuuuuu! Do you know how worried we were?" the king sobbed exaggeratedly, bringing a napkin to tap at his eyes behind the glasses.

"Che," was all the Kanda responded with before crossing his arms.

"Kanda you should inform us first if there was anything you had to do," a deeper voice came as a much taller figure strolled towards the couple. "We were worried."

"Yeah! Make your half-assed announcements properly man; we really thought it was some emergency," bells chimed as another voice added in.

"Whatever. Can we get out of the rain first." Kanda stated more than questioned and ran across the isolated area of buildings back into town without further ado. The remaining three stood surprised for a second, before quickly turning and following the youngest prince's footsteps under the blanket of rain, with the soldiers imitating them behind.

"Four rooms please," Froi Tiedoll smiled up at the counterman who nodded and quickly got to work, arranging the said rooms and handing over four keys. Kanda eyed his adoptive father from the corner of eyes and seeing that the necessity was done, he grabbed a key and marched straight up the stairs. It was a low four-storey hotel, that they had all agreed on staying for the night since the rain was pretty heavy but the main point was, he badly needed a shower then. Throwing open the room door at the end of the third storey, he dropped his coat, pulled out from his shirt, let down his long hair from the clip with a hand, and Kanda slammed the bathroom door shut. He quickly ran the shower and messed up his hair with the cleaner water and shampoo. _Stupid rain.  
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* * *

Allen blinked._ Huh I fell asleep?_ Sitting up and ruffling his hair, he spared glances to his surroundings only to see plain walls tinted orange by the flames of candles held in holders. He frowned at the unfamiliar settings he was in.

"Idiot apprentice, finally up?" a voice called from behind. The white haired teen snapped his head up towards the source and there sat his claimed master, expectedly.

"Where are we?" Allen asked.

After dragging out his breath from the cigarette slowly, the red-haired arched a brow at the younger. "Underground. Isn't obvious?"

His fingers twitched at that as they tried to fan away the smoke from the cigarette. "Sorry it's not," Allen replied with clenched teeth, despite knowing it was a rhetorical question. "And don't smoke here!"

Cross rolled his eyes but stashed out the cigarette on the ground, spilling ashes. "Anyway, you're lucky that place was one of the exits to the underground tunnel I built. You owe me one," Cross announced, smirking.

"You said… lucky… didn't you…" Allen's fingers froze in midair where they were acting as fans.

"Did I?" the older stared at the low ceiling.

"You just did!" the white-haired retorted with a finger pointing accusingly, before slumping with a sigh. "Master, don't drag me around when you don't even know where you're heading!"

"You're fine now, so don't complain so much." Cross glanced at Allen from the corner of his eye, still playing with the stashed cigarette between his fingers.

Pressing his lips into a firm line, Allen rolled his eyes and started, "So, how long have I been out after you knocked me out?" As if answering the question, his stomach chose to growl at that moment. "D-dinner?" he stuttered. _That long…_

Cross gave a snort in response and spoke, "Well I guess so. But oi, you were the one who knocked yourself out after the ground gave way."

Allen raised an eyebrow and shrugged, he truly had no idea what really happened or why Cross had a built-in underground path anyway. Then, his stomach started to growl noisily again. "Can I go and eat something?" he inquired.

"Let's leave this city first," came the reply.

"Are there any cities nearby this one?" Allen pressed, he had not even eaten lunch since there were many customers and he was real hungry.

"Yes there is only a forest," came the reply.

His fingers twitched again before he smiled brilliantly at his master. "I'll just go back on ground to eat something first then," Allen said.

Cross sighed after two seconds of laggard and pointed a finger to the direction ahead of Allen. "Three corners; turn right on the junction, go up the first exit and you will reach town."

Allen nodded seriously at the red-haired and stood up to leave. However, with a thud he fell back down again. The younger massaged his head as he glared at the ceiling. "It's low!" he accused.

"Never said it was high," Cross snorted in amusement, and added, "Be quick."

The white-haired nodded again and crawled ahead towards the first corner he was to turn. When Allen disappeared from sight around the corner, the older flashed out another cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

* * *

Kanda ruffled his long hair with a towel he found in the bathroom in attempt of drying it. _Better…_ Closing his eyes, he sat on the floor and laid his head on the bed after wrapping his torso with the usual long bandages. The silence in the room excluding the rhythm of the rain was great. The youngest prince relaxed and decided to let his thoughts wander a bit. But inevitably, the first thing that came to mind was a certain white-haired moyashi who worked as a barber._ Damn moyashi… You're going to suffer when I catch you._ He had already given orders to the armies following them to pass the message to close the city gates for the night. So he could wait until morning to worry about catching him… Just as Kanda was about to slip into the dreams after long minutes, the room door was knocked so loudly that he almost jumped. His eyes snapped open and he growled at whoever was behind that door.

"Get up you need to go somewhere before you sleep dude!" a voice that was undeniably Daisya's shouted. Kanda turned his head to the side on the bed and tuned the voice out. The next thing he knew, the door was thrown open and he was dragged to his feet by a shorter male. He blinked once back into full consciousness, and glared at Daisya.

"What?" he snapped.

"The old man says he'll take away my soccer ball if I can't get you there damn it, just come with me!" Daisya tugged harshly at the younger's arm.

"Why would I care about your soccer ball?" Kanda rolled his eyes and shifted pressure on his foot to prevent himself from getting dragged.

Daisya glared back at him before smirking, "you sure?" Kanda frowned at that but he quickly recognized the silent threat behind that smirk. That he would not help him the next time Mugen was confiscated. "Che," he said, before seizing his katana at the bedside and left the room.

They practically stormed to their destination, attracting more than enough attention along the way due to that. When they descend the final flight of stairs and arrived at the location before Tiedoll and Marie who were seated, they both slammed the table and raised their voice at the same time.

"Why do you ask him to drag me here!" "Give me my soccer ball back old man!" The volumes of their voices clashed and the other few customers could be seen wincing and turning their heads to see the commotion. The waitress and waiters then quickly went forward to placate them.

"Alright alright lower your voices sons," Tiedoll said calmly before presenting the soccer ball back to his second son, who grasped it immediately and sat down, and turned to Kanda. "You skipped dinner yesterday."

With a huff, Kanda seated himself on the remaining empty seat and massaging his temples, he responded. "So?"

"The day before yesterday too," the king continued, lifting a finger as if to show a point.

"Che. They ran out of soba," the youngest prince frowned at that thought. The palace cooks can actually run out of soba. "It was ridiculous."

"Yuu-kun you eat soba for all three meals and snacks," Tiedoll pointed out, "and soba is imported so it'll take longer to get restocked, not to forget we still need to sell them to the non-royals as well. But the point is, they sell soba here so you are going to eat your dinner tonight."

Kanda flinched at his name but crossed his arm and sat nothing more. He had missed eating the final meal of soba after all. It was a rule that their family had to eat dinner together so when the palace ran out of his favorite food, all he could do was skip that meal.

"Waiter," the king called and began to give orders, which the employee dutifully noted down in a notebook.

Sitting with his back straight, Kanda stared down intently at his katana between his arms for a long while before getting slightly bored, and he let his eyes drift cautiously across his surroundings, like to his family who were pretty much unusually silent, the few other customers, the not-so-bad displays, the busy counter, the entrance, and the- His eyes widened as he spotted a head of white hair with a familiar face stepped into the hotel's restaurant and after scanning the crowd hastily, proceeded to the counter. A smirk made its way across his face and abruptly, he shot up from his seat, startling the rest of his family.

"Yuu?" the king called, to which he ignored and unsheathed his katana before placing the sheath on the table.

"Kanda," Marie tried. Daisya merely leaned back into his seat and watched.

The youngest prince glanced at his oldest brother and still smirking, spoke, "Will be right back."

As soon as the words left him, he strode towards his oblivious target, with his back to him in favor of facing the counter, and placed Mugen gently on his crook of the neck. Kanda did not miss the stiffening of the white-haired and could only restrain himself not to smirk wider. As the moyashi turned about, Kanda kept a straight face and arched an eyebrow at him. "You're dead."

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_Alright i placed triple as my first choice of combi... Die then die luh, results will be out on the 8th this month. Tho i dun even know if i can get in lol...and maybe if i reallyyyy want to._

_DGM200 - Seeing kanda like that was so heartbreaking! ]]]': But i truly hope Hoshino don't make him wander around for the rest of the story after alma dies, he said what-not about "no innocence no church" in 199... Argh nooooo man! T.T And the leverrier and link honestly pissed me off. If they're so good they should go fight themselves instead of giving orders here and there and doing nothing. They're actually causing harm to the one who saved them. Poor Allen. And kanda called him moyashi again ._. I hope kanda can go back and help... but perhaps Hoshino wouldn't allow that Kanda... Haiz._

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_Reviews are appreciated._


	4. Caught

_Disclaimer: Nope, characters' not mine, they're Katsura Hoshino's. _

_A little discouraged by the lack of reviews -i still thank those who fav/alert- but here's the chapter~ Hope you enjoy._

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Chapter four

Caught

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**As the moyashi turned about, Kanda kept a straight face and arched an eyebrow at him. "You're dead"**

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Allen froze mid-sentence of his orders when he felt cool metal on his shoulder. Swallowing a huge lump down his throat, he slowly turned his head back, hoping that it was not what he thought it would be. But that tinge of hope was scattered brutally as he came face to face with a prince whose long hair were let down, and who raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're dead." He heard bits of amusement behind that deadly sentence and he almost argued back. But luckily he bit his lips in time, and pulling on a smile, he spoke as casually as he could manage, "prince Kanda, what a coincidence…"

The said prince glared back as he shifted the blade in his hands nearer to Allen's throat. As if on instinct, Allen swiftly tilted his head up a little to create as much space between his skin and the sharp sword. "Hey," he tried futilely.

"Che, you sure know how to run," Kanda ignored him and said.

The younger frowned but kept silent and averted his eyes away. It was best if he just waits and sees what the other was going to do to him.

"Oi moyashi," the prince then called, signaling to a table not far from them with a motion of his head and pressed the katana nearer against his throat.

Allen quickly nodded as his eyebrow twitched at how the older was handling him and calling him, and proceeded to walk towards the signaled table. Getting closer with the blade still on his skin, he spotted three other occupants. His eyes widened as he took in the appearances of the three. _The whole family is here…_ Soon, he reached his destination and the three seated were openly staring at him. The white-haired licked his lips and opened his mouth to at least say something.

"He's the one I've been after the whole day," Kanda interrupted from behind him and with the metal still on Allen, he shoved the younger to the side and plopped down on the last unoccupied seat.

The table was silent for some time as all of them stared at the white-haired. Allen could not help but fidget his fingers under their gazes.

"Yuu, why were you after him?" the oldest at the table decided to finally break the silence with a question.

As if to answer the inquiry, the blade against his throat left its spot and moved to hover beside his skull. "He has white hair, he made me chase him around in the fucking rain" the youngest prince replied simply. "And he fucking insulted me."

"How did he insult you?" a lighter voice from the male with purple tattoos under his eyes asked excitedly. But the question was dully dismissed when Kanda glared at him.

"What are you going to do to him?" the taller tanned man asked that time.

The youngest prince snorted, "kill him off."

"Yuu-kun that's not enough of a reason to execute people!" the brown-haired king frowned. "He should just receive a fine…"

Kanda scowled at that, "no, at least get him into a prison."

Allen felt like punching the long haired prince. He could have gotten away with just a fine! And he bet the fine would not even be as much as half of his stupid master's debts. But there the arrogant prince was, pursuing the matter like it was some serious crime.

"Dear Yuu is childish today," the second prince smirked almost knowingly. And of course, another glare from Kanda was shot his way and he became quiet, although still retaining his smirk.

The oldest then chose to turn to Allen. "What's your name and why did you not follow the orders?"

Allen decided to smile and replied, "Allen Walker sir, my master insisted that my hair remains silver."

"White you mean," the long haired prince added. Allen's smile twitched drastically as he could swear he seriously felt like punching the man. With all honesty, his hair is not exactly plain dull white; more of somewhere between white, platinum blond and silver. He always went with silver, but the prince was annoyingly persistent. Just then, two waitresses came up to the table and laid down four sets of food. Allen eyed the spread out meaningfully and his stomach growled. The attention was spun onto him again as he felt four pairs of eyes stare at him. "Well it's alright, I am just a little hungry," Allen lied smoothly.

Then suddenly, Daisya Barry burst into fits of laughter while he rocked his chair. "Hey kid you're pretty interesting there." Allen did not know how to respond to that so he merely raised an eyebrow hesitantly.

"So may I know who your master is?" the king continued like there had been no interruptions after he thanked the waitresses. The white-haired swallowed, mind in a frenzy as he wondered if he should really sell out Cross, before he remembered the ridiculously tall stack of bills the said man had him pay and which he was still paying. With a final affirmation to himself that the man would not get caught anyway, he answered. "Cross Marian sir."

The table went silent again as one stared and three gawked at Allen. "Did I say something wrong?" he murmured almost to himself.

The brown-haired king then pushed up his glasses and coughed, speaking first again, "Of course not Allen, but I might need you to go back to the palace with us this time."

* * *

The younger leaned his head against the stone with a sigh, trying to fidget as little as possible in his position since the other occupant in the room was only too glad to send a piercing glare at him whenever he hears Allen shifting as he stood before a wall. It was, however, getting uncomfortable standing still like a statue after what seemed like hours. When the oldest at the table back in the restaurant had declared that Allen to be returning to the palace with the family, all of them including the oldest and second prince agreed silently for reasons he could not phantom since just a couple of minutes before they were totally not supporting Kanda's form of consequences. And then, of course, the king had recommended Allen to stay in the same room as Kanda for the night since the rain was still heavy. Frowning, Allen began to doubt if it was the correct choice to have gotten his master's name out of his lips because he had a hitch that it was probably due to the red-haired that the other princes and the king changed their minds. At that thought, he gave an involuntary sigh. He probably should not even have gone back to the town, least of all stepped into a hotel's restaurant even if it was the closest place selling food since he should have known that the prince would obviously go to a higher class location for meals than commoners. But the white-haired was hungry, and he was supposed to be quick about his meal to prevent himself from getting caught, hence the reason for choosing a damn expensive place but instead of helping, it led him straight into the problem. He wondered if he could even get out of this mess in one piece.

A hiss from further inside the not so large room snapped his attention back into reality.

"When can you ever shut up?" the deeper voice growled and Allen felt the need to roll his eye, though he solemnly told himself that he must not let out a noise again. He must not open his mouth too much lest he could not take control of his anger, again, which was even why he landed in that ruckus. The long haired prince specifically pissed him off more than usual for some reasons and in front of him; somehow Allen had to struggle to pull on his well-trained mask and speak nicely. Then all of sudden, the youngest prince got up from his stiff posture on the floor, which Allen had guessed was meditation, and snapped the lights off.

"Don't even think of escaping," Kanda stated plainly before heading to the bed at the side. The white-haired twitched his eyebrow; the prince was being overly… haughty. Though of course, he had a right to be. Allen almost sighed again before catching himself and sealed his lips. Glancing at the long haired male who sat on the ground near the bed instead of on the bed itself, the white haired daringly slid down the wall onto the ground into a sitting position and slept. _I should have brought some lock picks with me… _

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Kanda scowled. There he was, trying to clear his mind since the day was more than unpleasant, and yet the offender standing near the doorframe just had to keep sighing. He shot another glare at the moyashi, but soon realized that the boy was deep in wherever his thoughts had been about and apparently did not notice his glower. Still holding his ferocity in his eyes, they slowly wandered over the younger's pale features, then to those striking hair, before travelling back to that pale face and the outstanding tattoo. Midnight blue softened a little as they reached distant silver orbs for an unknown reason. Then came a sigh that escaped from the person of his attention, making Kanda snap out of his thoughts that those eyes seemed to lurk certain sadness behind their dazzle. Totally unappreciative of the noise, the Japanese prince hissed, "When can you ever shut up?" And he meant it; the white-haired just loved to disturb the peace for one reason or another. Kanda regretted not being insistent in his objection to the idea of the boy lodging in his room of all places, which was after the boy ate more than enough food for twenty when they had offered him the meal, but it was too late so he had to bear with it for the night.

He slid his eyes close again for a couple of minutes before he clicked his tongued in frustration that he could not clear his head long enough that night. He got up from the cool flooring and with a clack; the room went dark, similar to the night sky outside the closed windows where the rain still fell heavily on. "Don't even think of escaping," Kanda made known before heading for the bed, though choosing to sit back down on the floor and leant his back to the softer touch of the mattress. He did not want further trouble, no matter how it seemed that the white-haired could not escape. It was the main reason he had reluctantly agreed to let the offender to lodge in his personal space in the first place, so he had simply decided to give a warning-alike. Then slowly but surely, the youngest prince succumbed to slumber.

* * *

"Open the door," Tiedoll commanded at the nearest soldiers as they entered. The soldiers bowed and swiftly unlocked a door to a gloomy cell. The brown-haired king stopped right before the cell and turned to Allen who was surrounded by the princes. "You will stay here until further notices."

Allen proceeded through the crowd, peering into the unlocked cell before stepping in. "Fine," he muttered darkly and spun around to sit on the rather dusty ground.

"Don't worry, you'll get one of the better food and any amount you need Allen," the king smiled a little. "You did not commit any offense serious enough to be held in a prison in the first place."

The white-haired nearly scowled at the king, before stealing a heated glance at a certain Japanese prince beside him who rolled his eyes. "Then why am I here?" Allen had to ask.

"We had been looking for Marian for years," it was Daisya who answered first.

"Yes, so since you must be the son he adopted, there would be more chances of him showing up with you here," the king continued, "sorry about that, perhaps just take this like a vacation for a short while?"

"Che. I'll make sure this is not a vacation for you moyashi," Kanda announced curtly.

"Yuu, stop that, it's not the first time you were insulted in a fight and it was just some rain," the king told his youngest son. Kanda glared at air before narrowing his eyes at the prisoner, "and his hair old man."

The king then turned back his attention to Allen and said, "Yeah, someone will come to dye his hair. It had been orders Allen, and you failed to follow them no matter the reasons" The white-haired could only slouched in his seat and sighed, "I got it. But I can't guarantee he'll appear for me."

"Rest well kid," Daisya balanced his soccer ball on top of his head and headed out of the prison without a second glance.

"Not," the long haired prince supplied before leaving with his katana in hand.

Tiedoll and the oldest prince nodded at him before following their family out of the place. As footsteps faded away, Allen glanced dazedly up at the ceiling before scanning the prison through the bars. The few cells surrounding his own were mostly empty, except one. Curious and slightly relieved, Allen pressed onto the bars and called loudly to a blonde haired boy who lay on the ground of a cell, one cell away from the one right before him. "Hey that blond haired person, I am Allen Walker. What's your name?"

It worked the second time he called, for the blonette stirred in his position before sitting up and glancing around. It seemed as if he had been asleep throughout the time when Allen was led in. As he caught sight of the head of silver-white almost diagonally opposite, the blonette lifted a brow. "Now that's rare for someone to be here." The other prisoner said, ruffling his short messy hair. "But I am Timcanpy, you can call me Tim."

"Oh… hello Tim, why are you locked up here?" the white-haired inquired out of curiosity. The place did not seem like a typical prison because not other cells would be left empty if it was. As safe as that kingdom was, it was not likely there were only two criminals, one of whom did not commit all that serious of an offense to begin with.

Timcanpy crossed his legs and tugged at a few strands of blond hair, shrugging, "Stole some food."

It was Allen's turn to be surprised. "And you came into prison for that?" The other nodded before replying, "I kind of asked for it, but I don't grumble, the people are here are nicer than many out there. Or at least I get my three meals you know."

"So… is this some sort of special prison then? " Allen frowned.

"Sort of, this is the older and smaller prison so nobody really gets locked up here anymore, unless the new one gets overcrowded, though that's going to take awhile" Timcanpy replied easily. "They built a newer and bigger one when they took over this place."

"Oh I see…" Allen trailed off.

"Your name is Allen right? Why are you here then?" Timcanpy queried.

The said person glared at the metal bars he had been leaning on, "Partly it's my master's fault. But what even caused this was because I have white hair; I made a prince chase me in the fucking rain and I fucking insulted him!" Allen raised his voice unconsciously as he recalled what happened.

Timcanpy tilted his head for a moment before a smirk spread across his face. "That sounds like Kanda."

Allen glanced at him, "Yeah. "

Timpancy laid down on his side and twirled his fringe with his index finger, "well he is not as bad as he seemed to be."

Allen scowled at his new friend. "And sun is going to rise from the north."

"I am serious. He's fine so long you don't make too much noise around him," the blonette looked mildly surprised at the sharp tone of Allen.

The white-haired frowned a little before sighing, "Maybe." It made sense in a way considering the umpteen times he was told to shut up. With that, he idly started to draw patterns on the hard ground with a finger. He really had not much idea what to do then.

"Hm, who is this master who landed you into this then?" Timcanpy eyed the white-haired's idling from his cell, some blond strands still around his finger.

"…" Allen finished another line before proceeding to making what seemed like a v.

"So?" the blonette pressed after a moment of silence.

"He's called Cross." Allen ended the v-like drawing and drew another stiff line, sighing a little. It was partly Cross' fault that he was locked there! _I wonder why the royals had been after him though, for years to add on..._

Timcanpy's eyes widened at that and his finger froze around blond hair. "Cross Marian?" The white-haired then paused mid-stroke of the line and turned his head towards the blonette. "You know him?"

* * *

Leaving the prison, Kanda turned and headed towards the back garden. The surroundings were pretty and most importantly, it was peaceful. "Training," he called towards the rest of his family who were heading to their rooms. Tiedoll nodded and he separated with them without further delays. The day before was a bad one, and he hoped that day would just be a little better now that he was back in the palace. Rounding a sheltered corridor, he stopped at what he saw ahead. As quickly as he could, he strode back to where he came from. He would rather take a longer route than face a… "Oh it's Yuu!" The long haired prince cursed under his breath and continued to walk away from one, very loud baka usagi. The redhead put on some speed and caught up with the prince. "Ne, how are you Yuu?" Lavi asked happily.

Kanda clenched his fist around Mugen and glared at the other, "I haven't even settled what happened yesterday with you usagi, but I am not in the mood to chase you around so scram you baka."

"Ouch that hurts Yuu-chan, but nothing really happened yesterday right?" the redhead winked at the youngest prince and the said prince could not help but flinched a little at his name.

"Stop calling me that!" Kanda growled. "I chased that moyashi the entire day yesterday but whatever, I just want you to get lost now usagi." With that, he stalked off to take another route to the back garden, leaving the redhead ruffling his hair in confusion. _Moyashi?_

Throwing glare at no one in particular, he huffed into the quiet garden. He walked past a clear pond of lotuses and threw his sheath onto the ground. The youngest prince was about to start his sword practice in the clearing surrounded by trees when a familiar voice called from a sheltered corridor. "Who is moyashi?" Kanda deadpanned at the figure under the shade and threw his katana across the garden, striking a red rounded pillar Lavi had been leaning on alarmingly with an air of resound. "W-wah Yuu!" Lavi stood straight up and put as much distance between the blade on the pillar and himself. The youngest prince arrived at the pillar a couple of seconds later and pulled Mugen out of the cement. "Leave!" Kanda demanded, swinging the black katana. Without hesitation, the redhead turned to do just that. Somehow the grumpy prince was in an even worse mood than when he left the palace.

The Japanese prince pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned against one of the pillars. Ever since he went out for that patrol, nothing had been right. Nothing at all. Kanda stalked back to the clearing and mercilessly brought his katana down to a diagonal slash at the first object he saw to vent his frustrations. With a chaotic crash, the top half of a bamboo tree then fell cleanly onto the solid ground. A loud commotion, wondering what the earthshaking noise was, could then be heard breaking out somewhere inside the buildings, putting Kanda in a worse mood. People would be streaming into the back garden after that. "Che," he grunted and kicked the fallen tree none too lightly. After brushing the wood dust on his blade with two fingers, he grabbed Mugen's sheath. Strands of midnight blue then danced in the wind following Kanda back indoors, hair tie that was dropped half way left forgotten in the back garden. But at least, he was feeling a little better after chopping a tree down. He could mediate then.

* * *

"You know him?" Allen asked, truly surprised.

"Of course I know him!" Timcanpy exclaimed, but whether it was due to excitement or anger was unknown to Allen.

"How?" the white-haired wanted to know. _Is he another victim Cross used to pay his debts?_

His new friend took a long pause at that, seemingly in deep thoughts. Finally, "It's gonna take some time to tell."

"We have more than enough time in these pretty cells," Allen rolled his eyes.

"Okay okay… it was that time when I was in another kingdom." Timcanpy then stopped again, tapping his chin. "I think it was called Noah."

Allen nodded his head for the other to continue. He had heard that name somewhere…

"The people there all wore depressing looks and the food and drinks distributed were of bad quality… It was announced that whoever life the king deemed the most pathetic would get a chance to work in the palace. Crazy isn't it?" his new friend's voice sounded demanding at that.

Allen pressed his lips and agreed furiously. It seemed… cruel.

"That was why there was a long queue every week for the commoners to meet the king… And then when I joined the queue that once, more out of curiosity than anything actually, I heard that the kingdom was in fact not poor at all, it was just that the royals kept all the good food to the palace. It was another reason why those people fight over a chance to work in there." Timcanpy told him. "So as hungry as I usually was, I decided to get inside the palace no matter what. Stealing those bad and stale foods from the commoners wasn't helping me, or them, much you see."

"Later that night, after some planning, I managed to sneak pas—" The blond haired boy was abruptly cut off by a loud slamming open of the main prison's gates. Two pairs of eyes swiftly darted to the corridor towards the source and Allen could only feel his eyes widened as one figure stepped into the corridor of the gloomy prison.

His new friend seemed unfazed and stopping his story, began to resume twirling his blond strands with the index. "Kanda," he greeted politely.

"Che," the said prince who had just strolled in between them responded rather monotonously. When he caught sight of Allen, dark sapphire eyes narrowed as if daring him to say something.

And Allen did. "Why is prince Kanda back here?" The white-haired was beginning to scowl.

"I go where I want. Now shut up," the long haired prince glared openly at him before proceeding towards the end of the corridor. Arriving before the dull dead end, he dropped onto the ground without a word and leant his katana against the stone.

Allen slumped onto the bars with a small sigh as he looked down the corridor to where the prince was seated. Turning his head towards his new friend, he mouthed a "what is he doing here?" with obvious distaste. He could not even speak aloud since he knew the Japanese prince loved to tell him to shut up. Timcanpy chuckled softly at Allen's attitude and mouthed back, "Kanda's here to mediate." Again, the newer prisoner added mentally. Allen raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the quiet Japanese prince. But that baka prince interrupted their conversation; he really wanted to know how Tim knew his master…

* * *

A red haired man ripped the ivory sheet off the brick wall and crushed it into a ball before letting it fall onto the ground with a thud. Lifting the burning cigarette from his lips, he released a puff of heavy smoke into the atmosphere as he turned and gradually disappeared among the crowd in the city streets.

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_It's one of the longest chapter i've written so far o.O Review, please? _


	5. Black

_Disclaimer : I own nothing from DGM, characters are Katsura Hoshino's._

_I apologize for the lateness. Yep, still alive. And i'd hug you if you are still following this. _

_Finally, I'd gotten a decent plot outline out for this. I'd only mainly had plans for the romance when i first published this. Then again, holidays weren't exactly being holidays what with school work having to be done, oh well._

_Thanks for the encouragement and reviews in the previous chapter!  
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_Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoy._

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Chapter five

Black

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**Lifting the burning cigarette from his lips, he released a puff of heavy smoke into the atmosphere as he turned and gradually disappeared among the crowd in the city streets.**

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A heavy silence hung over the ancient prison like a thick blanket suffocating whoever was in there. It was starting to piss Allen off since it only begun when the prince stepped into that place he was locked up in. Just how long is he intending to meditate? It's already been like what, two hours? The whitehead pressed his finger down onto the cement without much enthusiasm, fingering another line. Finished with a set, Allen lifted his eyes towards Timcanpy, only to find that his new friend had fallen asleep again twirling his hair. He listened to the stillness echoing from each object and human within his sight, and ended up almost shivering. Just as he muffled his small sigh with a knuckle, a noise further down the corridor broke the eerie.

Footsteps too many to be for one person could be distinctly heard nearing them and Allen shifted to look out of the bars. There was an unknown face among the trio who approached, dressed in relatively well clothing compared to the two who loitered behind side by side, carrying trays of mysterious items. With a last tap of feet on cement, the person who he discovered to have black gelled hair combed neatly to the back and some short mustache halted about three feet before Allen's cell.

"Kanda-sama," the person bowed towards the end of the corridor where the unmoving prince sat then.

It was peaceful. And the prince was having one of his best moments in the whole entire week when a horrendous 'crack' reached his ears. He nearly growled aloud at the sound but quickly resumed to emptying his mind. He was satisfactorily successful until one familiar voice spoke. "Kanda-sama."

"Che. " Kanda replied after a second of lapse, cracking his eyes to the suddenly too bright surroundings, just a tad annoyed that his mediation was disrupted. But he was almost done so he would let it slide just for once. "What?"

"His majesty wanted me to dye the hair of the prisoner over there," the person made a swoop of his right arm to indicate the choice of prisoner between the two present.

The long haired prince snorted, "then just do it."

The person inclined his head a little before adding a question. "What color should the dye be? His majesty had not mentioned that point."

Kanda scowled at him, before glancing at the white-haired boy who has confusion written all over his face. The youngest prince stared for a couple of good seconds at the mop of hair as he pondered over his choice. "Brown!" came the answer not so from him himself. The moyashi had turned to him with somehow sparkling eyes and repeated his choice, "Brown would be good, please."

He blinked once at the moyashi before a smirk slid itself across his face. "Akihiro," he called to now known person in the middle of the corridor. Signaling with a slight move of his head towards the white-haired, Kanda's smirk remained. "Black, the darkest you have."

The moyashi glared at him from his sitting position in that old cell before that face morphed into a disgustingly sweet smile directed at him. "Why, Prince Kanda, I didn't hear you say black did I?" The Japanese rolled his eyes rather prominently at that.

"Oi Akihiro, get it done faster," Kanda ordered, leaning his head against the hard wall behind him and closed his eyes again, ignoring the intuition that the one moyashi was trying to bore holes in him with his glares and silent curses.

"Yes, Kanda-sama," was the acknowledgement that came from his personal barber, being the rest of the family shared another one. After all, he was the only one who called in the barber weekly to maintain his hair. But how his personal barber was assigned the job to dye a prisoner's hair, Kanda could only guess.

Some shuffling and cracking later, the lock fell uselessly into hands of a guard and Akihiro stepped gingerly into the slightly dusty cell while the two that had been trailing him laid down the materials onto the hard ground and stood back into the corridor stiffly. The barber dropped down to sitting on his knees and faced the prisoner. "Good day Allen Walker-san. Hara Akihiro. Please turn your back to me while staying close," the man stated simply.

But unexpectedly, the ear-piercing sound of siren overlapped the last word of the barber, making Kanda jolt up. "The fuck?" He cussed lowly and grabbed his katana at arms' length, ready to strike if any needs occur. Nothing came. The siren continued noisily, and Kanda's eyebrow twitched as he stood up.

"Do your job, I'm going out." The prince then strode out the corridor in a huff.

* * *

"Yahaaaa" one high pitch voice unnatural for a male came from the sky as a hole was bombarded into the washed red wall.

"Wreck wreck wreck!" cooed another one as the wall was further destroyed.

"Jasdevi," sighed one spiky-haired girl who watched the two destroy whatever was in sight with enthusiasm. She kicked her legs mindlessly against cement as she sat on the row of wall opposite the one the twins were claiming destruction on.

"Yes Rhode?" Devi stopped midway, put a hand on the hip and turned backward to her. "Bored without Tyki?"

She pouted and supported her chin with both hands on knees, silently agreeing.

"Hehh don'tneed to worryyyyyy, he would be back soon" The blond male reported with a chuckle. "You like Tyki too much ehhh!"

Rhode puffed her cheeks. "Who ask that the rest of you to be so boring?"

"Is that an insult?" Devi looked to his twin at his left, confused.

"Hehh! It is it is!" The other cheered with a punch of fist into the air like there was celebration going on.

The black haired frowned and pulled at a hand of long blond hair, tugging his twin closer. "That's not a good thing!"

"It isn't?" Jasdero looked back his twin.

Devit nodded.

They then simultaneously pushed his heads together and stared at Rhode.

"Rhode you can't do that!"

The girl rolled her eyes and said. "Just finish your job already."

* * *

Noise was bombarding the air, and screams erupted from running maids and servants from the opposite end of the main hall way. Kanda clicked his tongue, and pushed himself to move faster than he already was, right hand clenching Mugen.

The solid walls surrounding the palace around the fourth gate were being destroyed, as far as the raven haired could gather from the sounds from the impact and random words out of the escaping crowd. Eyebrow pushed together in a frown, he could only think of murdering whoever was creating such a chaos.

He was near the end of the main hall way when Daisya and Marie emerged from the right at the junction where three hall ways were connected. Kanda shot them a look and motioned his head to tell them to check the other gates – there was always a chance it was a baiting – before proceeding out of the main hall way first.

The afternoon light beamed at him at his exit, and cobalt narrowed out of instinct. Quickly, he headed left where the target gate would be – and from the distant, he could already make up loads of rubbles with its powdered form. As he neared, he could see bodies of about a dozen soldiers guarding the gate lying lifeless on the ground.

"Che," the long haired prince hissed. Whoever they were, they were so going to die.

Without a second note, he drew Mugen and practically dashed toward a figure that so nicely appeared in his sight. Blade cut the wind and landed with a resounding 'clink' as it hit metal.

"Woah woah woah!" the figure said, voice a pitch too high for Kanda's liking.

He forced down his sword, but the gun the blond person was holding only pushed back.

Amidst a few more rounds of pushing of forces, his trained eyes caught a finger heading for the trigger, forced his blade down once more and leapt back just in time as an echo sounded, a bullet released.

Kanda glared.

"HEH! It's a sword it's a sword!" the blond voodoo exclaimed while waving its gun, making his high pitch voice even higher, much to Kanda's annoyance.

"I'm going to kill you." He stated determinedly, positioning his sword and narrowing his eyes.

A movement somewhere behind the rubbles told him the one standing before him was not the only intruder. Two more, the prince summed mentally.

"Hee, you! You're holding a sword isn't it!" the voodoo smiled at him, creepily with the weird lines on its lips Kanda would say.

But Kanda was not going to answer such a moronic question so he glowered darker.

"Heeeee! Even if you don't tell me, I know it is, you can't fool the great me!" Then the blond chuckled as if he was insane. An eyebrow twitched and Kanda lunged forward.

A deep cut on the other's right forearm right to the bones that met his satisfactory and the prince leapt back out of cautious. It was a gun, no matter what.

"HEEEEEE! YOU!" The voodoo cried as he threw his gun to his left hand, holding his injured arm and jumped around. "YOU!"

"Che." Was his response.

"Jasdero! We got to go!" another deeper voice called behind the voodoo and Kanda instantaneously dashed toward the approaching new figure. Attack was always better than defence.

Mugen's blade met with metal once more, and already expecting it, the raven haired prince tilted and kicked the side of the black haired person. The other dodged. And his timed blade sliced the right shoulder down to the middle of chest with an audible sound of cloth tearing. Another sweep of his katana and he jumped back a few feet.

"Bastard!" The black haired human shouted with a hiss of pain and Kanda turned and went for the blond behind. Metals clinked, with a few shots fired that missed him, and the youngest prince got out of the situation where he had both front and back enemies. He subtly noted the last intrude had yet to appear and narrowed cobalt at the surroundings.

Then he could catch Marie and Daisya's footsteps hurrying over, so decisively, he positioned his katana before him with his right hand and shouted back with a glare.

"Who the damn hell are you!"

"JAS-DEVI- WE NEED TO GO-" A voice undeniably female's called, making his two enemies shoot each other a look.

Kanda frowned, and advanced.

"Don't fucking thi-" _BOOOOm._

He forced his eyes to narrow despite the instinct to close, trying to figure out where they were heading at the very least– to no avail. It almost seemed like they just instantaneously disappeared into thin air along with the smoke screen. He coughed a few with his katana held steadily in his right before him, left arm shielding his mouth. And by the time the dust dissipated, the world went black.

* * *

Grey eyes followed the prince out of the ancient prison, counting the steps left for the raven haired to finally leave. Five… Four… Three, two… one…!

A loud slam of old metal could be heard over the sounding siren the moment the corridor turned empty.

"Yes!" Allen jerked his clenched fist down into his lap, cheering crazily in his head. And Akihiro beside him looked at him with a frown.

Noticing, the white haired gave a light chuckle before eyeing the bowl of black ink being prepared.

"Erm Akihiro-san," Allen started, pulling on a smile. "You don't really have to do that do you?"

The man stared at him evenly. "Yes I have to Walker-san. It's orders."

A sigh could be heard further away from him, and Allen shot his newly awoken friend a glance, almost asking for help. But the blonette only rolled his eyes at him.

"It's useless Allen," Timcanpy chided, finger beginning to twirl around those blond locks once more.

Allen pressed his lips. Damn.

"Do you like your hair that much?" The barber asked unexpectedly, eyes locked with the bowl of ink in all solemnity.

Grey orbs turned hopeful as he pushed his palms together. "Yes! I like it so much..." Not at all, it was what made him stand out. "Can you please just let it go?" It was because he just _knew_ he would get an earful and more debts from a certain Cross Marian. Which meant more hell, fuck it.

"You know, even if I don't dye it there are millions more barbers out there." Akihiro replied, tone final. Then, "please come closer," as the barber lifted the clay bowl of ready ink in indication.

Allen opened his mouth in protest, before clenching it shut as he caught his new friend in the diagonally opposite cell looking amused. Damnnnnnn!

"Okay…" The white-haired finally relented. Much to his reluctance, he knew it was futile. He was in their prison, for god's sake.

With a sigh, Allen shifted his butt closer to the kneeling barber, and turned his back to Akihiro. Not knowing what else to do as the man started applying the liquid on his hair, Allen resumed fingering lines of the somewhat dusty ground.

Then a thought occurred to him and he straightened in a jerk.

"Don't move!' Akihiro sounded annoyed, and Allen quickly apologized before getting to the main point. "Why doesn't _he_ need to dye his hair?"

The noise of siren was the only sound in the air as no answer came.

"Why?" Allen insisted. It was not fair was it! "Blond is definitely a bright color, I would say."

"Heh Allen," He could not see Timcanpy from his position but his new friend sounded amused as he replied instead of the barber. "Because the definition of bright depends on Kanda… He was the reason that law was made after all."

The still snowy haired took a second to take in the information, before it ticked. His fingers and eye twitched, face morphing into a pissed smile. So that means…

"THAT HELL OF A BASTARD!"

"Wow chill out, Allen," Timcanpy told him and Allen's fingers only twitched more. How he wanted to wrench life out of that damned prince.

"When he starts liking you, you could get back your hair color right? So don't worry, don't worry." Timcanpy said so nonchalantly Allen felt like giving a blow to him too.

"Ha! Like me! That would be when the sun rises from the north too!" Allen huffed, crossing his arms as he thought up ways of torturing the prince – it might not be possible in reality what with the guy being a fucking prince, but in his head he was the ruler.

Slowly, his thoughts moved from the long haired prince to blaming Cross Marian for partly creating all the problems. First thing was of course, he would probably not be jailed if he was not his master! Then again - If the man hadn't stirred up so many debts, he wouldn't have to work in that salon. If he didn't work in that salon… Oh, talking about his master…

"Oh timcanpy," Allen called the blonette. "Finish your story."

"Hm?" Was the said friend's response.

"How you met my master."

"OH, Cross Marian!"

Allen was about to nod before remembering he should not be moving.

"Yeah." He vociferated.

Just then, the siren stopped.

* * *

Kanda sat stiffly in the wooden chair, unmoving, as hands fumbled with his eyes – opening and closing his eyelids every now and then.

"How fucking long more this is shit going to take?" The youngest prince spat, utterly pissed.

"S-Sorry!" the unfamiliar voice stuttered nervously, making the raven haired che'd.

"How is it?" a voice he recognized as the old man's drew louder and closer.

"It's nothing that serious, your majesty." The unfamiliar voice replied, seemingly more composed talking to the king than him. Che. "Probably some of the toxic vapors got into his eyes and out of instinct, the eyes protected themselves by shutting off."

"Does that even make sense?" Daisya spoke – Kanda would never mistake that soccer idiot's voice, always chattering nonstop all day.

He heard another different set of footsteps; and with a bit of searching of memories, he affirmed it was Marie's. Though it was not like he could not function without his sight being he trained better than that, but it was rather troublesome if he would so admit.

"So it's temporary?" The oldest prince asked.

The unfamiliar voice said "Yes." Which made Kanda released a small sigh of relief inwardly.

As much as he could function, hell, he definitely preferred having his vision.

"Che." He intoned. "How long?"

"U-Usually for t-this kind of cases, it's about three days to two weeks…" Kanda rolled his eyes under his eyelids, though he could not really feel it. That scared of him? It only summed the fact that the physician was a coward, too weak. But either ways, he could last for that short period of time.

"Are there any medication for him?" The old man swiftly interrupted, taking over the querying as if to save the physician from some life and death situation. The youngest prince did not bother to hold in his snort.

"Yes your majesty, I will be giving him some treatment eye drops and some medicine to brew." He could hear frantic scribbling over papers. "He should drink the brewed medicine twice a day, preferably once in the morning and another before he sleeps."

"Okay okay, you may go." Daisya sounded bored as he plopped down in a seat beside him. "Man! Now I can't get you to play soccer with me."

"Che. I could still do that if I wanted do." Kanda scoffed haughtily. He was more than sure about his abilities to function, even without his sight.

"Serious!" the second prince exclaimed, and Kanda heard him stand up. "Let's then! You've never played with me in like forever dude."

"And I never said I _wanted _to, idiot." Kanda arched an eyebrow.

"Hey!" At that, he knew Daisya was going to kick up another ruckus. So he opted for getting up and heading to the door on the left. Twenty steps forward, three left to avoid the display vase on the ground, lift his legs to step over the platform, and he was out of the room – leaving Marie to placate the protesting soccer obsessed who was trying to follow him.

"Moron." He muttered, as he tried to recall where he was and the number of steps he needed to take.

"Yuu-kun! Will you really be alright on your own?" Kanda heard Tiedoll's voice behind him after taking a dozen steps.

"Hell yeah." Was his curt reply, raven locks fluttering as he took each step with a count.

He flashed out his arms to grab onto the metal gate he knew was before him.

Damn, he had not known that walking through out the palace without his sight and keeping in mind where he was and counting steps would make him giddy like shit.

The youngest prince drifted his fingers to the knob of the metal gate and turned. He halted a moment to stabilize himself before heaving himself into the prison. And as for the reason he was there once more instead of returning to his room, he did not feel his head was clear enough to remember. Oh yes, because he liked the place better than his room. It was darker, and quieter being it is further from the hall ways. But it was not like it could get any darker without his fucking vision.

He counted the eighty one steps to the dead end, ignoring the greeting Timcanpy gave him in favor of concentrating on his count. Kanda was not going to knock into the wall, damn all to hell. Finally, he lifted his hands before him, felt the cold cement, and satisfied, whirled and dropped down.

"- master after that?"

"Well-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP." Kanda all but growled, annoyed. All that useless chattering was making his headache worse. Damn, he just wanted to sleep. Maybe he should have gone back to his room.

The prison resumed its silence for a moment. Before he heard Timcanpy's voice – he recognized it from the number of times he had stayed in the ancient prison.

"Kanda? Your-"

The said prince clicked his tongue and the other fell short.

"Talk later."

He then leant back his head against cement, allowing himself to fall into the slumber he desired.

* * *

Allen did a mental sigh, fingers drawing lines on the ground.

Oh rightttttttttttttttttttttt. Thanks to a certain long haired prince who kindly granted them his holy presence once more, Tim's story was cut off once again. The then black haired could not help but roll his eyes. Why the fuck would a prince keep visiting a prison?

"_Oh timcanpy," Allen called the blonette. "Finish your story."_

"_Hm?" Was the said friend's response. _

"_How you met my master."_

"_OH, Cross Marian!" _

_Allen was about to nod before remembering he should not be moving. _

"_Yeah." He vociferated. _

_Just then, the siren stopped._

"_Hmm where was I?" he heard the blonette asked._

_So Allen supplied offhandedly, "You sneak past something." _

_He never forgets anything even subtly related to his master, a habit he picked up while he was trying to avoid debt collectors. You had to be able to obtain clues as for where the man had gone and stirred up a debt, so you would not stupidly enter in the same very place, idiotically thinking you would be able to get food. He learnt that lesson after the first time. _

"_Oh yeah." There was pause, which got filled with scrubbing noises of the fingers on his scalps. _

"_So you see…" The blonette started._

"_I managed to slip past the numerous guards after creating a commotion in front of them with some passersby to divert their attention. It was spooky, the place beyond the gates. Lots of trees, and it was darker than outside. I was just trying to find an entrance to the kitchen, which was supposed to be somewhere to the left side of the palace. But no matter how I searched, there were no doors…" A pause. "Yeah, then amidst the dark I found a vent opening on a wall and decided to try my luck."_

_A sigh was audible and Allen arched his eyebrow, although he knew his new friend could not see it._

"_Who knew I almost got killed the second I managed to reach the other opening." Some ruffling of hair before Timcanpy continued._

"_Got shot by the right shoulder and the oh-Cross-Marian declared a 'I wouldn't miss next time' on me."_

"_Wow." Allen muttered._

"_Totally. " Allen swore the blonette rolled his eyes, he just knew it._

"_I was freaked out to the max!- obviously- so for survival, I ignored my literally bleeding arm, scrambled out of the stuffy vent and apologized and explained I meant no harm and only wanted food, hoping that he would let me go." The blonette cleared his throat. "Then I realized he wasn't one of the royals -I knew the royals since they always appeared in the weekly meetings in public – Nor was he one of the workers, because I'd heard they knocked off early and it was after midnight by then. And that guy was no better than me."_

_The white haired caught it right away._

"_He sneaked in too."_

"_Yeap! Ha! As expected of his erm, disciple?"_

"_As much as I'd like to deny it, yes I am." Allen crossed his arms. "Why am I not surprised he goes around sneaking…"_

"_Heh."_

_Allen harrumphed, hinting for the blond to continue. Too many questions popped up at his master sneaking into a palace, the red haired was obviously not going to be able to find women if he were to sneak in secretly would he?_

"_Okay, well then – it appeared that I entered the library…Big miss." Timcanpy told him. "He was sitting on a chair, if you call having his legs crossed on the library desk like he's a boss considered so, and had a mountain of books and papers around him, on the ground, desk, lap - simply everywhere."_

"_Then Cross said," Timcanpy tried for a voice probably a good octave lower. "'Oh it's just a brat.' "_

"_I swore my whole face was twitching for heaven's sake!" the blonette suddenly exclaimed. "I wanted to protest but the gun he was holding so casually scares me, my shoulder still felt like hell."_

"_Then all of a sudden, he looked me over with scrutinizing eyes that sent me shivers. So I asked him a what, humbly, in fear for my life. And guess what!"_

_A pause and Allen realized he was supposed to guess._

"_Screw off?" _

"_No." Timcanpy scoffed, and the white haired realized his new friend was getting more and more into the story… _

"_He asked me to help him look for a book named some funny title called 'The fourteenth song' – okay, more like threatened me if you would. That gun, oh how I wanted to snatch it away. Told me that if I made a noise, I would be sent to hell immediately too. " _

_Allen heard the blonette huffing some distance behind him, and noted Timcanpy was not the best tempered person on earth. But then again, Allen decided, even the best tempered person on earth would throw up blood if they ever met Cross Marian._

"_Uhuh." The white haired decided to encourage his friend to resume his story._

_There was silence for a long period of time except some scrubbing noise. _

_Then a sigh drifted into Allen's ears once more._

"_Alright, I'm getting too worked up for no reason." And the newer prisoner heard his senior drop on the ground like a sack._

"_So, he threw me all the books and look into the papers instead – and so decisively decided to take another smoke since the one he was holding was finished."_

_Allen did a mental nod. That's Cross Marian for you._

"_Did you find it?"_

"_Hell no. Even after I searched the whole damned large library for hours straight. If I hadn't stole some learning of medicine before and bandaged my wound with my shirt after getting the bullet out, I'd definitely have died from blood loss." Timcanpy breathed, as if trying to hold down his feelings. "But it did seem he found what he was looking for in the papers part since he folded a couple before telling me we could leave." Another pause lingered. "It was dawn by then- and I was hungrier than I had been before I went into the palace."_

_The white haired felt pity for Timcanpy for meeting his master at the wrong time._

"_And after that?"_

"_I got stuck with him." The blonette stated rather monotonously. "Told me not to leave a step from him or I would die before I knew it – didn't dared to risk it. Besides, he said he would get me food."_

_Allen heard a shuffling of aluminum foil and realized too late that his hair dying was done._

"_Walker-san I'm done here." The barber named Akihiro whom Allen had even forgotten he was there had spoken again like for the first time in a century._

_Allen nodded his head, glad his head can get some movement already, and thanked the barber swiftly retreating out of the ancient prison with two trailing behind. Grey eyes turned to look at his new friend at the other cell._

"_Wow Allen you look not bad in black hair!" Timcanpy jolted up from his previous lying position and grabbed at the metal bars in enthusiasm._

_Allen did a nervous chuckle. Did he? He had thought black simply do not suit him. Which color, of course, the long haired prince just had to go and declare. "W-well, if you say so."_

_The blonette replied by nodding his heading furiously._

_Then grey locked brown and Allen decided to ask again._

"_So what happened after that?"_

_And a figure walked between them at that moment, almost scaring Allen out of his wits. With a skip of heartbeat at the sudden appearance of the figure, he looked up to find one prince Kanda returning in his entire honor. Though the raven haired was closing his eyes, an oddity._

"_Kanda." Timcanpy greeted._

_The prince ignored him. _

"_He called you." Allen could not help but let a tinge of annoyance slip into his tone. At least greet people back when they greet you! It is fucking basic manners – regardless of status._

_The prince ignored him too._

_An eye twitched, and Allen decided he could not bother with some mannerism-retard prince._

"_Timcanpy, what happened with master after that?"_

"_Well –"_

"_SHUT THE FUCK UP."_

Allen got tired of fingering the lines on the ground as he ran through his memories. With a mental sigh – hell he could not even do that openly with the longed haired prince there – , he dropped down onto the solid ground, noting the uncomfortable feeling on his back. But he knew he had to get used to it, somehow, since he did not know when the hell he could even get out. Until his master appear? To be honest, he would bet all his cards that the red haired would not even show his shadow for Allen.

The black haired looked up at the high ceiling, laid his right arm over his eyes.

_The fourteenth song… Why do I feel I also heard that somewhere before?_

* * *

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_I didn't quite like the lack of yullen scenes too, but there will be more than enough in the next chapter(s) hehe ^^  
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_DGM chapt 210 was the best ever! To think i had thought 208 could not be more awesome xD_

_Hope you liked, review? [:  
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	6. Ridiculous

_Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. Katsura Hoshino's.  
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_I would like to say it's been a complete year since the last update, but nah, it's 4 days earlier. I can't resist the temptation to publish this chapter after it's finished and I got the chance..._

_Eithers, for this I know I'm late and all. Just that : Still alive, even though it's 21-12-2012._

_Hope you enjoy._

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Chapter six

Ridiculous

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**The black haired looked up at the high ceiling, laid his right arm over his eyes.**

**_The fourteenth song… Why do I feel I also heard that somewhere before?_**

* * *

How did it end up like this?

Taking in a huge breath, Allen stroked up a finger of hair and lifted the metal between his right fingers. As the edges of sharp scissors leaned forward to the raven locks, a deep voice cut him off once more.

"When I can see again, if there is a single strand out of place, I'll slice you into a thousand pieces and you can find yourselves in the stomachs of _dogs_." The words were a hiss, venom dripping off each syllable, from the long haired prince and Allen found his fingers upon the scissors twitching.

"And if there are two strands out of place, you are going to make sure I die _twice_. Is that right?" The then black haired retorted in all his sarcasm.

"Che. Glad you know that." Under those closed lids, Allen swore those cobalt rolled.

Repressing a tempting click of a tongue, he pursed his lips and steadied his fingers. It was not like Allen had no confidence in his skills, but after all that threats and insults, any idiot could see that the prince definitely treasured those long tresses. As much as he hated the arrogance of the man, Allen was not going to ruin another person's beloved things even if he was not under the threat of more trouble and possible death.

The first snap echoed too loudly in the near empty room. The prince's fingers were twitching wildly on the sides of his seat and Allen had to sigh.

"I'm going to do this properly." He assured the other, as he laid down the cut hair and picked up another bunch of strands in two fingers. That seemed to calm the other, somehow, just a little.

The male took a deep breath and stilled.

Allen mimicked him, and quickly went about his job professionally.

His job, right then, was to trim Kanda Yuu's hair. And his job, right then, was very, very precise orientated. He had taken a lot of half hour measuring the length that the mighty prince wanted him to cut on his long locks and those bangs respectively. And he was to cut those lengths accurately.

His bangs needed a trim of two tenth of a centimeter, while retaining that perfect straight line. Those extra strands framing his jaws required a shortening of four tenth of a centimeter. Then again, those longer flowing strands down the prince's back expected a removal of half a centimeter.

Apparently, the usual barber of Kanda Yuu had always done the job perfectly, so Allen was definitely able to too. The only difference was that Akihiro probably had a century of practice while he had just mastered the skill two years back.

Clipping off the last few bits of hair from the prince's forehead, Allen was finally able to let release a heave of relief. He set the tools back into a well silken box that looked too expensive, and announced.

"It's done."

Dark sapphires remained closed, and this time Allen knew fully why. He had been wondering about that in the evening when the prince returned refusing to open those eyes. He heard the story from a very friendly acquaintance of Kanda, the minute a red haired understood that Allen was to be Kanda's temporary personal servant.

So since Akihiro returned to his village for a well earned break, Allen was to take the role of the prince's personal barber. The black haired tried not to look too annoyed that he had too much roles to play, for which many of those belonged _personally_ to a certain too proud prince.

Yet he was doing them all, because the king promised him better meals and more freedom within the palace… Okay. He was bribed, definitely.

With a blink, the black haired realized Kanda had not spoken.

"Hey?" Allen voiced cautiously.

"Che. I refuse to think about how I look like right now." Kanda growled, setting his arms to a cross.

Silver eyes rolled and as he double checked the demanded straight lines, Allen proudly thudded his own chest. "It's perfect." Damn you.

The prince only gave a huff and stood up, turning a rigid forty five degrees as he made for what was evidently his bed. As Allen watched, he knew the other was counting the steps. He was impressed, really.

Quickly, he made his way beside the long haired, taking the other's left arm gently and pulled him toward his bed. For once, the man did not protest.

"You are quite amazing you know." Allen could not help but say as the prince shifted his whole body onto the soft mattress. Kanda halted, and he knew those cobalt would have narrowed in suspicions if they had been open.

"I mean, not every person who can't see managed to walk by _counting steps_. It's quite a feat, really."

He had to admit that even _he_ could hardly be acting so normal if his vision was removed.

A snort was the only response Allen was given, the older shifting and adjusting into a comfortable position. A hand reached out for a nearby blanket, and Allen voluntarily pulled it for him.

Their fingers touched a brief second, a vibe striking but disappearing before he could register it, and Kanda paused.

"When I wake up, I expect the medicine brewed."

Allen had to remind himself why he was doing all these for. Repressing an urge to retort the too strong command in the words, the smaller gave a grunt in agreement. Then he stayed where he was, watching as the prince slowly steeped into unconsciousness.

A flutter of admiration skimmed across his chest before Allen stopped himself with a heavy snort.

There was nothing admirable about the moronic prince.

Getting up, he turned back to the unkempt table laid with the barbering box, an empty bowl of previously brewed medicine and a black tray. Picking the things up, silver eyes flashed as a nearly forgotten errand entered his mind.

* * *

"_What?" Kanda hissed in disbelief._

_Tiedoll sighed a little too loudly. "Allen is the best candidate; Akihiro is gone for at least two months."_

"_No fucking way." The raven haired prince clenched his teeth in thought of that white haired idiot become his personal barber, personal helper. That was all bullshit. Why did Akihiro's son had to give birth to that grandson so perfectly timely? "I'm perfectly fine on my own."_

_Daisya snorted across him on the table and Kanda sent his leg to kick the other's chair in annoyance. A rattle of chair sounded before a yelp escaped and the closed eyed prince turned back to the old man._

"_I'm damn serious."_

"_Yuu-kun... Sure, you can walk within the palace because you memorized the place. What about outside?" The king answered slowly. "And I believe you can't stand your hair being unorganized for a full two months."_

_Kanda's eye twitched. He got him there good. But no way in hell is it going to be that brat._

"_He's not the only soul." He growled, sending an unseen glare in the Daisya's direction who was no doubt grinning his face off. "Why the hell it not be someone else?"_

"_You'd rather someone you've never even met do the job?"_

_The question came slow, deliberately thought of, and it rendered Kanda answerless._

"_Oh Yuu, why not just like him try it out?" Daisya added in, obviously taking in the joke with how amusement laced his every word. _

_Another kick to his chair, but the other screeched his seat away from his reach. Kanda's lips twitched. _

"_No way in hell." _

"_Yuu-kun…" Tiedoll paused. He could almost envision the older perching a finger on his chin. "You seemed biased toward Allen-san right from the start. Why?"_

_Why? There were too many reasons. "He fucking insulted me remember?" The youngest prince growled. "And my hair got damned stained with rainwater."_

_The king did not respond, and Kanda felt at edge because he knew brown intense eyes were searching him. He really wished for his sight right then. So that he could glower back into those staring orbs. _

"_Che. Fine. I just don't like him. Can that do?" Kanda spat, irate rising in his chest. _

"_It looked otherwise to me though." His brother helpfully supplied, and though the voice was soft, it sparked anger in him. _

_Kanda slammed his fist onto the table. "Shut up Daisya."_

_He really, really wanted to glare death._

"_How about this, just let him do the job until your vision returns?" He could tell the king frowned. "That would be just two weeks at most, according to Physician Reta. After that, even though Akihiro is still away, you can handle yourself and you can choose not to use Allen."_

_Kanda grit his teeth. It was as if telling him he had no choice in the matter._

"_I can handle myself even now."_

"_I will still be worried." The old man stated, a gentle touch to his words that made a feeling stir in the raven haired. Kanda had to think, fast, he was not giving in that easily._

"_One week. At the most." He said reluctantly. "Even if I still can't see by then, he is to scram. Immediately."_

"_You're being stubborn." Daisya actually threw at him, and Kanda could feel him rolling those eyes. He had to click his tongue in annoyance._

"_That's my-" "All right." The brown haired interrupted him, silencing an argument that was bound to break out between him and Daisya. He had to admit; the old man was getting good at stopping fights. "One week as compulsory. The remaining week depends on your choice."_

_The raven haired nodded stiffly as his brother scoffed a little too loudly._

* * *

Kanda waited until the footsteps that were slowly gaining familiarity died away before he released a pent up sigh of frustration from his bed.

He could not believe it.

It was the tenth day – to put it simply, it was way over a week.

Why did he not terminate Allen Walker's duties? It was as if he was starting to develop reliance and fucking _friendliness_ on the idiot… The prince felt his face going into a scowl and a threatening shiver up his spine. No. That was impossible, not a chance in hell.

Yet as he felt the soft mattress on his back, remembered the hand on his arm and tresses, he had to seriously doubt himself. Teeth clenching, Kanda could not help a growl in the back of his throat from escaping as he flipped onto his sides.

It was getting frustrating. Really irritating.

.

.

_Day 1 _

"_Che, go some fucking where else!" Kanda spat as he whirled on his heels, cutting his blade through the air on his right in a finishing move. He flexed his fingers on the hilt of Mugen and pulled the blade to his chest for practice of another sword style. Yet as he plunged himself into the routine training, he could feel an unnatural force eyeing him from the far end of the clearing under shelter._

_It was pissing him off._

_He sloshed harder at the invisible, damning his best to reel in his urge to stride over the forty eight steps and slice the other's head off. _

"_My duty is to stay with you." The reply was a grunt, and Allen Walker did not even bother to hide his annoyance behind that answer. "If I had a choice I'd be a thousand miles away from you."_

_Kanda did a vertical slash downward, before wiping his katana out in the direction of the damned voice._

_The wind roared. "If I had a choice you'd be dead." He growled. The old man had specifically ordered that he expected the brat back in one whole piece after the week, and that was all that was keeping him back from killing the other so that he could stop staring at him while he practiced._

_It was more irritating than reasonable to have someone monitor you every second of the day. That was why he never had it, some stupid shit of an assistant. And to think he was forced upon it because of some crap like having temporary loss of sight._

"_Che." He bit out, before he sheathed his blade and started for the other._

_He heard him stand up as he neared, and then a sigh that was not his own followed._

"_It's the prison isn't it, that you are heading?" The smaller voiced, an edge of true curiosity behind the words and Kanda rolled his eyes under his lids. But of course, the other could not possibly see that so he gave a snort._

_There was a beat of pause as the raven haired brushed past him that made Kanda feel the other intended to ask something more. But Allen did not, just falling in pace behind him, and Kanda was oddly grateful. He had realized that if he listened and counted at the same time, it's either that he gain a headache or he mess up his numbers. Neither was fantastic. _

_He counted a one hundred and twelve before whirling on his heels for a thirty degrees left ward. Yet just as he took the first step forward, an uncanny voice stopped him dead. _

"_The prison is on the right." The younger had called; a furrow of brows could almost be heard in that tone. Kanda felt his own forehead creased as he pondered a second._

"_No fucking way." He shot back and proceeded onward. Footsteps did not follow him, the shorter male stationary in his spot. What a stubborn all-mighty brat. _

_Yet as he took about the eighty seventh steps, probably already away from his retarded assistant's view, the prince was feeling odd. The air floating about him was warm, tingling, everything unlike the cool calming surroundings near the unused ancient prison. An uncharacteristic shiver shot up his spine as he came to a halt, reaching his usable senses out as much as possible. Sounds of nearby birds echoed off his left, so he could believe stone was where he could reach by his left hand. But, if he was not heading for the prison, where was he?_

_Shit._

_He had never considered what would happen if he miscalculated and got lost._

_The world was dark, he knew that. Yet it was somehow darker now that he had no idea where he actually was. Swallowing thick lump down his throat, Kanda lifted his left fingers gingerly to the slightly hot cement beside him. The cement curved smoothly, without a scratch, as if it was hardly used. That ought to tell something. If it was somewhere hot, not often visited, probably near the prison, definitely near the clearing, there were some possibilities. Either it was the newly constructed spa or the room facing outward to the garden which noon sun shone on… Or maybe it was the –_

_His right palm pricked with sensation as a warm hand grabbed it. _

"_I told you it's on the right." A voice came, unwillingly familiar, and annoyingly satisfied that Kanda was wrong. It made him clench his teeth as Allen Walker began to guide him backward. _

"_I never said I wanted to go to the prison." The prince spat in a fit of near embarrassment. It was the most horrible thing ever, to be scoffed at by some idiot of a commoner like the shorter rude man. "Now fucking let go of me before I cut it off." _

_An answering growl made him finger Mugen's hilt as an eyebrow twitched. If the other actually thinks Kanda wouldn't dare…_

"_Right. So you can get yourself lost some more and me into more trouble." Allen snorted at him. And he was sure those silver eyes rolled, rotated as if Kanda was stupid. How dare he! _

_He felt his own knuckles tightened on the sword, and a hiss of sword probably alerted the other because the hand on his dropped too suddenly._

"_Shit. You-" Allen had probably jumped a two feet away from him from how his voice had grown distant. "Fine. Do what you like. Get lost. I'll pretend I never saw that!"_

_Kanda pressed his lips in frustration. He would really like to take him up on that offer. Yet he could do nothing if he didn't know where he was at all! He would be like a useless person; a ridiculous joke for all that spotted him…_

"_Che. Bring me there." His words laced with authority and command. He was not getting what he did not want. "You have the responsibilities after you dared to pull me and make me forget where I was."_

_Gritting of teeth that was not his were heard. "You already forgot where you were you as-"_

_He heard it. The incomplete insult that was broken off by a tough grip that returned on his arm. The word rung in his head and spiked an irritation in his chest._

_He wanted his vision so bad now. He wanted to glare._

_._

_Day 4_

"_No fucking way." Kanda snarled as he jerked his arm back from the grasping hands. _

"_Yes way sir." Allen Walker replied, sarcasm dripping in his answer as he returned his grip on his hands to pull him into the room that was really his. "Who would seriously prefer to sleep on floor in some prison when they have such a big room and bed?"_

"_Me. Damn you." The prince hissed, forcing his hands back and rooting his feet on the tiles before the lap of his room door. He would have gladly flashed Mugen at the younger, but he had no idea when the idiot grew smart – and so annoying- that he knew to grab both of his hands so that he would have none to reach his sword. _

"_You-" And then the hands on his let go too quickly. He was glad he managed to retain his stability in an unseen glare thrown in the other's way. "Fine. So you aren't going to use it then?"_

_Kanda maintained his status quo in a glower attempt through closed lids. He knew that would not work, really, but he just could not help the temptation. "I am not." His words were sure._

_A harrumph made its way to his ears and he heard footsteps that were not his proceeding into the depths of his quarters. "The medicine is on the table, the one with the light silk on your right. And since you aren't going to use it, I am not going to let the chance slip. I am using it. Being you seem so sure you aren't going to."_

_That rattled a feeling in his chest and the prince had to slam his palms into the door._

"_Moyashi. You aren't touching that in a million years even if I don't use it."_

_The sound of weight on spring reached his ears. "It's Allen. And this feels soooooo good." _

_Kanda had to grit his teeth. "Get off my bed."_

"_Oh? Since when is it yours? Did you even use it before?" Allen Walker called, bouncing on the mattress so hard that the creaking reached his ears. His hands twitched. He swore the other was doing it on purpose._

"_Get. Off." He hissed, but there was no reply other than more creaking. His fingers reached Mugen's hilt._

"_You can kill me but I'm still going to be on this bed." The black haired snorted, seemingly annoyed even though Kanda should be the one. "I am not getting off unless you are going to use it."_

"_The fuck is with you?" Kanda could not help but growl. What, Allen Walker was doing this to make him sleep on his bed? How's that any of his business?_

_The room suddenly grew quiet, except for some fondling of something thin… Hair strands._

_The prince scowled._

"_You should cherish what you have you know. Some people can't wish more to have a decent bed, and here you have such a huge one and you say you'd rather sleep on the floor. What nonsense is that?"_

_The voice was low, and Kanda found himself entering the room. _

"_I have my own damn preference."_

"_Then how about this? You don't use this and I don't cut your hair which is due six days later. You can maim me, lock me up, but you're gonna let some stranger touch your hair. I may not be close to you but it's not the first day we met at least. You're gonna allow some _unknown creepy person_ you have never even seen before to cut it." _

_A growl from the back of his throat rumbled outward_. Tiedoll fucking told him.

"_How's it?" The question was too casual that Kanda was furious._

"_You are going to die when I get my sight back." He spoke darkly, allowing every murderous intent he felt to lace his words as he gripped his sword hilt tightly. "Horribly. Until you can't even recognize your body when your poor fucking soul comes back to find it."_

_He nearly felt the other smirked. _

"_I'll take that as a yes."_

_._

_Day 7_

_The only person beside him sighed._

"_May I ask _why _exactly are you patrolling when you can't even _see_?"_

_Kanda rolled his closed eyes, adjusting the plain disguise cape on his shoulders and ignoring the touch on his left arm. "I can _hear_."_

_And indeed he could. People, crowds, were scrambling to his left and right. He could hear the usual man selling his paintings in his northwest direction. He could hear eight different voices of children somewhere to his extreme left, probably gathered in a semi circle which how their voices clashed yet not resounding. He could hear a distant cry of a young woman for her child that that dashed too fast for safety. The city was normal, and he had seen to confirm it. Even though logically, he was not seeing at that moment._

"_That's ridiculous." The words were a totally mumble, soft, and Kanda was nearly sure they had not been meant for his ears. Yet he heard it, so he heard it._

"_None of your damn business." _

"_Well, I have to _guide _you so obviously it _is_ mine." The shorter replied curtly and Kanda had to repress his annoyance. Despite how he liked it, Allen Walker _was_ at that moment his source of direction for the large place he had yet to memorize._

"_Che."_

_A light snort came from beside him before an idea struck him. And that idea was nearly enough to send him slapping his forehead with palms. He should have thought of that earlier, really. _

"_You aren't escaping." He stated slowly, still feeling the warmth on his upper limb._

_He felt eyes on him, almost suspicious, surprised or incredulous._

"_Yes…" Allen drew out. Then a pause emitted that made him feel like the younger was hesitating. "Because it seems like I'm not going to get killed… yet."_

_Kanda had to frown at that._

_It did not make any sense._

_Or that it felt incomplete._

_Thinking a little hard, he did not realize he was starting to walk ahead of the other who had somehow slowed down. Nor did he really notice the rolling thumps of wood against brick roads… His knee hit a tough plank, and Kanda drew back too alarmingly but his late registering of sounds was not going to help. The pushing cart before him was heading for him again and the prince bit his lips to keep from gulping. It wouldn't even take a second – a pull exerted on his left in the flash of the moment and he found himself rotating probably a ninety, a smaller arm slipped around his waist as he was forced a three steps back. The grasp tightened as the rolling sound rattled before him, just where he had been a millisecond ago._

"_So sorry! I'm rushing!" A deep voice of a man called back and the bumping sound of wood on bricks grew distant. Hushed whispers surround them for a second before they dispersed, every observer vanishing to what they had been doing previously. But the arm around him, the hand on his arm, remained. _

_It was silent for a good moment._

"_You're okay right?" The voice echoed from beside him, too near. And there was a weird concern weaved in the question that nearly sent Kanda scrambling away. _

_Nearly._

"_Che." He intoned as he pushed the arm and hand on his body away as if he was burned. "I'm going back."_

_._

_._

He had not realized that his fingers had formed a fist before him as the recent memories flashed by in his head. Jaw tightening, the prince flopped once again back facing the heavens.

I will die before I take to that idiot, Kanda thought determinedly.

As if the decision calmed him, the raven haired slowly felt himself losing grip on reality… Before long, he slipped right into unconsciousness.

* * *

His finger skimmed the spines of a row of standing books.

Silver eyes twinkled then dimmed as his hope to find the intended book lit up then landed in shreds at his feet. Allen pursed his lips in thought as he skipped a shelf of obviously wrong section and proceeded to look through another row.

_Hm… Why don't they have it? Unless it isn't really a book… _

His boots rattled too loud in the silent library as he moved to the back of the shelf. Allen winced mentally and reminded himself to keep it down the next time. With a purse of lips, the black haired looked once again from one spine to another.

_Strange. Aren't palaces supposed to hold all the books in the world?_

He rotated left to switch to a different shelf when a figure jolted him out of his breath. His heart jumped as he stared at the shorter man for a good minute until his pulse returned from shock.

"Erm… hi?" Allen voiced softly, remembering his own reminder.

"You're Allen Walker isn't it?" The man glanced at him without a blink, dark eyes narrowing to slits up at him. Allen barely noticed the dangling earrings and the too tall strand of hair. "The new prisoner."

The black haired had to inhale a good mouthful to speak again. "I supposed so…"

"Yes is a yes, no is a no. There's no supposed so." The shorter male stated blandly, eyes averted as he rotated to lean on the shelf behind him. Hands slowly disappeared behind sleeves as the man folded his arms on his chest.

Allen smiled weakly. "Yes, then." Even though there's barely reason why I'm one… and the fact that I could have escaped when Kanda brought me out.

Now, why did he not escape then?

That was for another time; because the new figure was talking again.

"And so, why are you here?" A glance that spoke nothing but wariness was sent his way and Allen could not help a lift of sheepish smile.

"I'm looking for a book…" He trailed off, oddly reluctant to say the name that bounced about in his head as if demanding he remembered something.

"What book?" The shorter asked bluntly. Now, it was not like Allen had not expected that,

He sighed. "I don't really know if it's even a book… It's called The Fourteenth Song, or something like that…"

An even more suspicious look was thrown at him. Allen had to keep from gulping. What was it he said wrong? He was just looking for a book…

"Why is someone like you looking for something like that?"

Allen had to gape, he had no choice. Was the book some sensitive, classified information? "Er- no, really, it's just pure curiosity…" If it is, then- well, that would fit Cross perfectly. "I heard it in Timcanpy's story and I just got intrigued… That's all."

He winced at the way he worded his explanation. He could have made it better. It nearly made him more suspicious and thief-like. But he really did not intend to do anything or want anything! Okay, that was lie, even to himself. He did want something from it; he wanted to know why it sounded so unusually familiar.

"Timcanpy… The prisoner who came from the Noahs?" The other seemed less tense, if even just a tinge.

Allen nodded quickly, relief flooding him.

"You know, it intrigued me how a song can be a book…" Allen added subtly.

Then intense eyes were suddenly turned to him. It took Allen's every effort to still his panic and lift a smile.

"It's essentially a song." The statement was too to-the-fact to be argued with. The man paused, changing his stare to the opposite shelf of books. "But it's said to be embedded within the story of that book, with each page portraying a single note."

Allen gave a slow nod of acknowledgement that he was listening, a strange worry that the other would stop his speech if he spoke.

"It had been with the ruler of the Noah, and supposedly still is."

"Supposedly?" Allen voiced his query as mildly as he could with an abrupt burn of curiosity in him. He could not afford to look too eager. As for why, the black haired could only say it's instinct with how much strange looks he was getting from the speaker. Like the one now.

The man moved. "I'm Bookman by the way."

Allen blinked, slowly following the shorter out of the tunnel of shelves to the pine wood counter which the other hopped into a seat upon. Now the other was taller, and dark eyes looked down at him for a very long time. In the quiet, Allen finally realized that two dark patches surrounded Bookman's eyes. What great observation skills he had.

"You want to know why it's just _supposedly_?" Bookman asked lowly, and Allen thought he saw a strange smirk landing on the other's face.

The black haired nodded hesitantly.

"Nobody had actually seen it for ten whole years."

* * *

It was earlier than the usual five in the morning.

He just knew it; because he had never been less punctual in his waking… until now.

The prince stirred, flexing his fingers at his sides, shifting his shoulders. Long hair splayed behind him, protruding ends sticking out in some places. He tensed his facial muscles and jaws, before forcing them to relax. With a deep breath, he opened his eyes.

He knew it would be all dark before him, yet in that first bits of a morning, Kanda would not feel truly like he was awaking until his eyelids slid open.

And it had always been rather tiring to keep his eyes closed throughout the day, to prevent infection as what the physician told him.

He could allow himself just that in the first few moments of his dawn.

Yet in that instant those heavy lids glided open, the world was not black.

Cobalt widened as the blurred edges registered in his brain, before they quickly focused into sharp lines and angles. He dully registered a poking pain of light in his eyes, but the hard lines of the ceiling of his bed were imprinting in his brain.

He shifted slowly to his sides, refusing to let himself expect anything yet.

The whispering morning light reflected off a light blue silk and into his eyes. A rigid round table under it came into his view, as do four red wood short stools accompanying it. A bronze carpet he had no idea when it appeared in his room slowly made its presence into his mind

His breath hitched.

He could see again.

* * *

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_Now, I didn't think you had expected Kanda to stay like that for long, did you? o.o_

_Hm and maybe it's been too long that i last wrote this, or maybe it's due to the time skip i had to cleverly decide, i had a bit of problem writing Allen initially... So, sorry for any weird Allen at the start. But ok! I think I'd be fine if I just stay with chronological order for some time;p _

_ANDD for some reasons I'm quite pumped for this story recently, I think._

_Reviews would be nice! Do. _


	7. Destination

_Disclaimer: Katsura Hoshino own the characters._

_Merry christmas.  
_

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Chapter seven

Destination

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"Nobody had actually seen it for ten whole years?" Allen repeated slowly, more to himself than anything. Then discreetly, he found his eyebrow arching at the seated Bookman.

"Yeah." The man was suddenly solemn once more, eyes turning downward at the floor. "It was supposed to be shown at each annual meeting of the country. That was tradition, ritual, routine. The song within the book was a representation of the power of the kingdom, its unity and significance."

Allen licked his lips in thought, eyebrows furrowing as a frown took his forehead. Cross was after something like that?

"But it stopped ten years ago. The exact year an heir went missing. The missing one was the younger of the two, for the king at that time only had two sons." Charcoal eyes turned to him once more, forcing a confused smile on Allen as the black haired stared back at the older, head tilted. "Do you know why 'Noah' was chosen as their country's name, their heirs' labeling?"

The younger voiced a negative in the back of his throat at a quick thought.

"In the bible many generations of kings believes in, that name represented survival, the god chosen ones. They wanted the country to survive." Bookman continued. "But for this king, he took it differently. He believed he alone was the chosen one, because god removed his rivaling sibling and presented him the chance to take the throne. It had been rumored that his father had intended for his sibling to inherit the position instead, so this king claimed god desired otherwise and made him the one. He was chosen by god."

"But at the first annual meeting where people expected, and called for the symbol of their country, their song, this king could not hand it out for the eyes of the public. He announced that he obviously have it because he was the chosen one, but that the item was too precious to been laid out in the open. Henceforth, he declared no more of the traditional display and named himself the Earl."

"You think he was lying?" Allen asked gently, a right hand going to brush his black locks behind his ear by his odd need to do something with his hands. He had a feeling he would start to appear like a statue if he did not try to move a bit. The story was freezing his actions for his sprinting curiosity.

"I don't _think_. I make a well informed deduction." Bookman grunted as if he had repeated that line for the millionth time. "Two years after he ruled, people demanded once again for that song. It was not their country if they did not have their song, every one out of two civilians strongly believed that. They called for just a second of the exhibition, renewal of their song, hope and significance. The Earl did not answer to it. The next day, nine out of ten of those people were killed. It's more than an eighty percent chance that the Noahs do not truly possess it. If they do, showing it for a second was definitely less trouble than hunting that crowd down. "

The black haired nodded slowly. "The missing heir was never found?"

"No." The older paused. "But there is every reason to believe he had taken the song with him when he left, should the Noahs truly not have it in their hands."

Allen found himself agreeing silently. If the book went missing the same time that heir disappeared… Was that runaway heir dead, anyway?

"And I believe our current third heir would flare up if you don't start preparing his medication." The other spoke again, tone light for a rather abrupt change. Those words startled Allen for a good moment, sending the younger blinking stupidly at the seated one.

"Huh?"

"Kanda Yuu." Those dark eyes in the middle of two round dark patches almost glinted. "Seeing how long I had seen you looking through the shelves I doubt you even took note of time. But it's three thirty in the morning, just for your information."

Before he could register his words, Bookman landed on the ground with a light plop and strode steadily away from the counter Allen was in front of. Silver eyes watched the short figure disappear behind two particularly tall shelves of books, before he blinked.

His head slowly rotated to the clock near the library door.

"EHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Kanda let his fingers brush across the smooth surface of the table silk. Midnight eyes stared at the black window sills framed by dark brown curtains, registering the streaming morning light contrasting artistically against its dark borders.

He had never realized his room had such a view in the morning.

Lips pressed together, he turned his gaze to the door, narrowing as an urge to inform _someone_ about his recovery made itself known. Giving a low 'che', the prince picked up his katana he had placed on a stool and gave it a deliberate scan. The sheath had gained another scratch during his absence of sight.

It's been a long time Mugen, he thought absently.

For a moment he just stood there, in the middle of his room, his sword in hand, eyes adjusting to the surrounding lights that he should have been more than familiar with. He had to admit, that many days of darkness was making him appreciate his vision more than usual.

Then abrupt thumping sounds reeled him back from his little bubble, proceeding fast and uneven along the corridor. Kanda's eyebrow arched and with a glare at the door he flashed his dark blade out.

Yet as the rhythmic tapping screeched to a halt behind his door, the familiarity of them struck Kanda.

His breath paused, midnight irises widening, and before he knew it his sword was sheathed and he nearly all but threw himself back onto the soft mattress. Shifting a tinge, he had his front to the ceiling when the door slid open.

The footsteps entered, and the prince could hear light rattling of a pot along with a porcelain bowl against the tray. His fingers twitched, and as a thud of tray on table sounded, a logical flame lit itself all of a sudden.

Why the hell am I doing this?

"Phew, I made it in time…" The voice was unmistakably Allen Walker's, uttered as a mumble but in the dead quiet rung in Kanda's ears.

In time? He had to be awake for half an hour! It was definitely past five.

He felt his eyebrow arching in annoyance as the brat shuffled around the table.

"No." The word stopped the other dead. Kanda shot up straight into a seat as he grit his teeth and sent a glare in Allen's way. "You're fucking late."

The other seemingly froze, and silver stared at him blankly, a box of his medical eye drops in his left hand.

He stayed glowering.

Why the hell did I come back to the bed? As if _I _would want _him _to continue taking care of me…

With a pissed off growl, the long haired pushed himself up and strode to the immobilized figure. Cobalt eyed the utensils on the silk, and when he was within three feet of the other he spoke.

"You are fired."

There, it was out; that sentence he had always wanted to enunciate the second that first week ended. It was five days late but it was finally out.

And it seemed to finally draw a proper reaction. Metallic hues blinked slowly.

"What?"

Kanda's eye ticked. "You fucking moron."

Allen's lips twitched and he thought those silver orbs flashed. "Ha?"

"You deaf imbecile."

Now, the brat was glaring. "Would it _kill you _to just repeat yourself once?" The words were slow, pronounced, and almost deathly if Kanda was not Kanda.

An evil lift of lips made its way to the prince's face and Kanda gloated down at the shorter male. "It will kill _you_."

"_Try me_." Allen's eyebrow jerked violently, his face twisting into an expression nearly Kanda's own.

"You. Are. Banished. To the–" "Yuu-kun!" The previously closed door was whammed wide open, a tall contour placing itself right in the middle of the door. He could catch a shimmer of white off reflecting glasses from the corner of his eyes. His fingers flexed instinctively.

Kanda sucked in a breath – rotated his head – and _glared_.

What he didn't know, was that the smaller male was doing the same.

A too long pause emitted as brown eyes stared stupidly at them.

Then,

"Oh your sight is back!" The king chimed. "Lenalee would be so glad!"

* * *

"Long time no see Kanda."

"Hn."

Allen shifted uncomfortably in his seat beside the olive haired, Kanda positioned across the table from the female. Tiedoll had said it was all right if he just participates in the _conversation_- to help the prince make sure he did not do stupid things - but really, he felt he should not be here.

"Sorry for informing you guys so late that I'm coming." Silver eyes glanced sideward to see a small smile spread across Lenalee's features. "My brother decided it just last night and there was not much time."

"It's fine." Allen's eye twitched in disbelief at the _conversation_.

"I heard you lost your vision for a bit…" The female trailed off, violet eyes staring at the older. Kanda's gaze was averted, a single finger on the border of his untouched cup of tea.

"I got it back just today." The black haired had to flex his fingers into a fist to stop _himself_ from doing stupid things.

The girl nodded, cupping her hands around the warm coffee. "That's good. Thank god..."

A light snort came from the prince and Allen nearly threw a glare at him. But those midnight eyes were not on him in the slightest and for a moment, the black haired wondered if he should just slip away. They wouldn't notice at all, not really anyway.

"So, what are you here for?"

He watched quietly as violet hues flashed. "It's about the Noahs. Nii-san told me they are on a move now so you guys need to be more careful. The previous attack showed that they are thinking you have _it_, although I have no idea what made them think so. "

The prince pursed his lips and silver eyes observed those dark brows dipping into a furrow.

"I suppose you told the old man already."

Lenalee nodded, her two ponytails swishing at her sides. "I also told him nii-san's intention to support you guys no matter what. I just thought to tell you too, seeing that I was planning to visit you anyway."

Kanda harrumphed and all of a sudden Allen found himself being stared at.

Then the stare evolved into a glare.

"The usagi should be at his usual spot." The prince spoke offhandedly, the bore never quite leaving Allen. He felt his face going into a cramp to keep up his smile.

"Oh, good." Lenalee beamed. "I'll go find him then."

The female stood up gingerly and Allen rose with her. Her violet eyes smiled at him for a moment before she turned back to Kanda. "Your greeting present should be here tomorrow."

An answering growl was the raven haired's response, which got Lenalee into a giggle for some reason Allen could not fathom.

"Then bye Kanda." She did a deliberate wave. "And Allen-san."

"Have a safe journey." The words fell from his lips before he could register, and then he gaped as he realized his mistake.

Surprised violet eyes stared at him, and disgusted midnight blinked at him from his sides.

Then Lenalee broke into a grin as she bounced her way to the door. "Yeah, thank you."

The door shut with a thud and Allen slapped his forehead with a palm. He had forgotten Kanda called Lavi usagi… Basically, Lavi was just in the palace. What journey was there to speak of?

"Are you a moron?" The long haired scoffed as he stood up, grabbing his katana at the foot of the table.

Silver eyes shot an annoyed glance to him. "Well if you would just start calling people by their _actual names _then I wouldn't have gotten mixed up."

Dark sapphire irises rolled and the taller strode to the door. A hand was on the hinge of the sliding door when the man turned back to him.

"Oh yes. In case you were really goddamn deaf back in the room – you are fired, and you are reporting to the housekeeper by afternoon."

The black haired found himself frowning at the other in confusion. "Housekeeper?"

The door opened, and a gush of cold air blew into the door as a satisfied smirk crawled upon Kanda's face. Those midnight hues gleamed for a moment.

"Where else, damn cleaner."

* * *

"Old man." The raven haired called as he strode openly toward the king's room, the four guards outside stepping back as he proceeded into it.

"Hm? What a surprise Yuu-kun." The brown haired smiled lightly from his position on the ground, a half painted sketch on his lap. There was a palette beside him, colors staining his boots and some of the ground.

Cobalt eyed the mess for a moment before he settled himself onto one of the stools in the large room. Kanda adjusted his katana into his right elbow as he crossed his arms.

"The Noah thinks we have it." He spoke to the opposite wall.

"Ah, the Lees think it and Marie had proposed that probability already."

"I want to find out." Kanda continued after a pause, calling a weird look from the older his way. "What makes them think that, after so many years."

He could see Tiedoll's face straightening into seriousness almost instantly.

"You want to go?"

Kanda bit down a sigh and nodded deftly.

The older stared at him for a good moment and the prince replied naught. From his silence, Kanda almost already know what the king wanted to say.

"All right. Take care."

* * *

Allen took in a deep breath as he drained the cloth with all his might.

The trickle of dirty water back into the bucket made the black haired sigh.

He can't believe he was doing this when there isn't a debt to pay…

Righting his shoulders, he gripped the cloth and got up from his knees. Carefully, he folded the grey cloth into one fourth of its breath and dropped it onto the floor. Then he laid his palms on it, set his determination, and – pushed.

"Ya-ya-ya-ya-ya!" He cried repeatedly as he scrubbed the long corridor. When he reached an end, he placed weight on his toes, shifted his ankles in just the right angle, and he was heading for the opposite direction already.

It was habit. And the source of it was never a good memory.

Then as he decided to round a corner, his eye caught sight of a pair of clothed legs – too late. With a smash, he found his head hitting straight into the knees of the person; the person tumbling backward and sideward – and then Allen found himself skiing on his side along the smooth corridor he had painstakingly cleaned the whole afternoon. His body bounced a few times across uneven surfaces and with a yelp – his face went into a pillar.

When he got up with a groan, his nose was bleeding and his jaw felt like it had a bruise on it.

"Ha-ha-hahaha!" A loud burst of laughter sounded from behind him and Allen whipped back in a frown at the person, a hand smudging away the warm liquid and another rubbing his jaw. He took in the features on the male, the purple tattoos, the balanced soccer ball on a finger…

"Prince Daisya…" He muttered reluctantly, his frown edging to turn into a scowl as the other continued his fit of rumble. Amused tears were on the side of his closed eyes, and Allen could not help but raise an eyebrow incredulously.

Somehow, he could imagine Kanda scolding this male _useless idiot_.

Silver eyes blinked. Huh?

"Erm. I'm sorry for knocking into you." Allen gave a sincere bow, letting both of his hands drop to his lap.

The laughter stopped.

"Heh, no big deal no big deal – though I think you have a big deal there." The prince smirked, a too childish shade on his face, a finger pointing at Allen. Allen blinked, before he felt another trickle of blood flow from his nose.

The laughter started, again.

Silver eyes were twitching at the bombarding sound as the black haired quickly rubbed it off with his sleeves. He glanced quickly at the prince and was dully surprised how different he was from Kanda, yet still held a line that threatened Allen's annoyance. Were all the princes like that?

"I'll be fine. You can go on to where you needed to go; this should stop in just a bit."

Then the burst settled again. Footsteps thudded against the tiled floor as the male neared Allen.

"Well, I was headed to find you."

* * *

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_Sorry it's short._

_Sorry it had to end there._

_By the way, this chapter had a section that was reallyyyyy hard to write (i had to rewrite it over before i could continue - but still, i can't help but feel that that part is a bit lacking). The initial one was longer but it felt off... Oh well :\_

_Please give reviews!_  
_I'm getting the spur for this but reviews make me happier._


	8. Directions

_Disclaimer: Characters not mine_

_An update for the farewell for 2012..._

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Chapter eight

Directions

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"Find Cross?"

"Yeah. It's almost two weeks. If he had intended to come for you, he would have come."

Allen sighed. "I told you guys that he_ wouldn't _come."

"Hm, I guess so. But nobody disbelieved you." The second prince paused, sending Allen a tiny smirk. "We were just taking the best bet there is. Having you here is better than not."

The black haired could not help but roll his eyes. "I doubt that."

"Well, in any case, all the more reason for us to _go_ and find him." Allen watched the other kicked the soccer ball onto his head from his seated position on the floor, then shifting his skull about to keep it balanced.

"Why me?" He voiced slowly.

The marooned colored eyes turned on him as if he was stupid. "You are his adopted son right? You would have the best idea where to find him."

Allen gave a well prepared smile. "I thought so."

… I thought they knew about how much debts Cross could incur and were purposely pushing me to go along to repay them…

"Well then, I take it that you agreed?" Despite the question, silver eyes caught a chilling glance sent his way that made him wonder if he _could _disagree in the first place.

"I-" The younger hesitated. "Wait, I'm supposed to be on a job right now you know."

As if in double implication, silver eyes shifted deliberately and slowly toward the bucket of dirty water with a laid down cloth beside him.

"Oh _that_." The male broke into a grin too wide. "It's okay, that's Yuu's punishment for you but he's not here at the moment so don't worry."

Allen blinked. "He isn't?"

A nod was his response, and suddenly a soccer ball was spinning itself on a pinky of the older. "That's the reason why we're going _now_. We'll complete our mission before his and we can laugh at that baby boy."

.

.

.

"So Tiedoll-san is okay with this?" Allen asked finally as they settled into a carriage.

Honestly, he had nothing to pack, so after bidding a rushed goodbye to Timcanpy in the prison, the black haired had easily followed the prince out of the palace.

"Of course." Daisya snickered from opposite him in the luxurious transport, his soccer ball for once stationary beside him. "He has been wanting to find that guy for a million too long."

"Hm…" Allen harrumphed thoughtfully. "But then why didn't you allow Timcanpy to follow us? He had followed Master for some time too so that would be helpful."

Maroon orbs looked at him for a good moment. "He had something else to do."

"Huh?" Allen raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "He was all but sitting in the prison when I told him I was heading out."

A hand reached out to touch the black and white leather fondly, before the prince replied. "That's what he was supposed to do."

Allen blinked. Daisya sent a grin his way.

"That guy- Cross Marian– told him to stay with us. Or that's what that blond said."

Now he found his eyebrows furrowing. Right, he hadn't actually heard finish Tim's story about Cross.

And then there had been a nagging question at the back of his head all along. _Why _were they looking for his Master? He had intended to query, but somehow he wondered if he really wanted to know. What if it's because Cross was their secret drug dealer? How about the reason being related to some weapon industry? Or perhaps smuggling of alcohols against international law to earn profits? Now, don't assassination and robbery seemed another very likely possibility?

A shiver ran up his spine and the black haired shook his head.

No, really, he didn't really want to know and get implicated more than he already was.

So he turned silver eyes out the window of the carriage, looking at the dimming surroundings as they approached Neon, the red light city of their neighbouring country.

Supposedly, it was where his Master was last seen. And if it was, Allen would be the last person on earth to be surprised.

It was nightfall by the time they set down their foot. Allen took in the surroundings as Daisya busied himself with kicking his soccer up and down his head. After all, the prince had told Allen to lead once they reached.

They were on one of the streets left of the main street. The main street bustled with people, neon lights splashing the top of buildings and doors of shops here and there. The one that they were on had fewer crowds, but that little crowd seemed all too similar…

"Ahh~ Sir. Come on in~" A lithe voice chimed as Allen saw a lady grasping the sleeve of a thin male. She had her hair tied up in a loop over her head, mimicking a fairy, and he was simply clad in large brown jacket keeping himself from the cold.

"Tonight – is – cheap." Another murmur sounded from further to his right, but Allen didn't bother to look this time. He had already reconfirmed they were at Neon.

The black haired snapped back to the prince. "There are two main attractions here. Did they say which one Master went?"

Daisya halted his ball under his heel, turning his eyes to him and shoving a thumb to his right. "Supposedly it's that one."

Allen paused, stepping back as he eyed the fenced building. It was pretty all right, brilliantly white colored that contrasted with the skies, with pink headlights near the door. But there was a small crumble of stones from some edge of its roof and a few muddy scratches on the door. The doorstep looked a tinge dusty, as if it had not been swept for a month.

No way would Cross go to somewhere like that.

Not when there's another option.

"Nope. It's the other." The black haired decided, whirling on his feet to face the shorter but definitely cleaner building. The painting had a light sickening yellow, but he doubted Cross would mind if it was clean and had _decent targets_.

He heard the other follow.

.

Allen was shivering. But he refused to let down his smile.

A hand was crawling slowly but distinctly near the edges of his long sleeved shirt that he had changed into before the ride, and the blond haired female was sitting way too close for comfort.

But of course, Allen had to smile, a hand gripping a glass of red wine for life.

"So~" He nearly winced at how he sounded. "Dear miss, do you mind telling me where that red haired man went?" A seductive smile was sent in her way, and he was too glad when she blushed. It meant he had not lost his skills, and that he was not going to go through all this crap for nothing.

"Ah, Allen-san." The female wriggled closer and silver eyes shot a little helpless to Daisya who was sitting alone opposite him. All the other did was giving a cheeky smile. "Let's not talk about this now~"

So the prince seemed to be enjoying the situation more than the younger did. Allen settled into a gentle smile as he turned back to the lady, a hand cupping her jaw. "But I won't be able to concentrate on being with you if I don't get this _problem_ out of my head… Ne, just tell me."

Blue eyes blinked at him, almost shyly if he didn't know better, and the female laid her head on his shoulders with a huff. The hand that had been wandering his shirt slipped to his pants, shifting back and forth his thigh.

Allen's free left hand went to grip her hand in place, tightening it in what he knew the female would think was a passionate grasp. But honestly, it was just because he couldn't stand that motion. Silver eyes bored into blue hues as imploring as possible, and he spoke into her ears. "Please~?"

He heard her gasp, and Allen knew he nailed it.

"He said he was going eastward from this country." She muttered quickly. "Sorry, but that's all he told me."

Allen tilted down, beating his eyelashes up at her. "Really?"

It was for double checking.

She nodded as two hands went to cover her lips almost in embarrassment. Before those hands could return on his shoulders, Allen shot up from his seat.

"Yosh, Daisya-san let's go."

A toothy grin was flashed his way but Allen was out the door before the other could utter a word. Vaguely, he could hear cries for him to stay behind him but those sounds were too scary that his brain refused to register them automatically.

The door opened, he stepped into the streets - and the goose bumps he had forcefully suppressed shot all the way from his foot to his head.

"Eeek!" Allen practically jumped as a hand tapped him on his shoulders. That seemed to draw an amused smirk on the prince's face.

"What, and to think you looked like you were enjoying yourself so much." He could tell the other was repressing a fit of laughter. Those deep purple irises were burning with entertainment.

Allen had to give the other a scowl. "I will never ever, ever, ever enjoy myself over something like _that_." The brief memory of it sent a shattering shiver up his spine and the black haired quickly shook his head.

Although… The usually hated scenes of his master hooking up with all sorts of ladies did come in useful this time.

"Heh! As I thought, you're an interesting kid."

Allen ignored the comment. "What's east of here?"

The prince spun the ball on his index finger, turning to face that direction. "The Lees' country."

Silver eyes caught deep purple. "Lenalee's?"

Daisya looked surprised for a moment before he nodded.

Allen laid a finger under his chin as he stared eastward. "How about the west?'

In that instant, the mood changed, he could tell. He whipped his gaze from the skies to the prince. The soccer stilled in his palms, and Daisya looked thoughtful for a moment.

"The Noahs."

Slowly, Allen let his mind run through the options. He had considered the possibility that the man had said opposite of where he intended to go. But it didn't seem likely that Cross would revisit the Noahs if he had already gotten what he wanted from them (from Tim's story), did it?

"We're going east as she said then."

* * *

Kanda maneuvered quietly through the crowd.

He had a black suit on, covered with a dull cape, his raven hair tied up in his usual high ponytail. A hand reached out to adjust the large straw hat he had topped his attire off with, and midnight hues stayed low but seeing.

"Ah tomorrow is the day of the fortnight." A male sighed delightedly to his wife to his right.

"Yes finally we would be able to get a job…" The woman replied, slipping her arm through his husband's.

The prince repressed a snort and strode silently pass them, tuning the buzzing conversations around him out. Catching sight of a short alley to his left, he shot a quick scan towards the bustling people in the streets before darting into it.

The prince sighed, tilted his hat to a side as he glanced up at the heavens.

The sun was high. It was afternoon. And it had been a day.

He touched the hilt of Mugen strapped to his side in habit before he slowly laid his back onto the edge of the stone wall.

He stilled, and observing eyes watched the street of people.

They were just moving around, going about their business from one end to the other or simply sitting at some side stairs chatting. There were food stands and accessories stalls lining the route, but even from afar he could catch the frozen edges to the ingredients on the cooker and the lack of shin on those metal pins and bracelets. He had to scowl a little.

In any case, it was surprising that the security into the country was not tight and he just had to slip in together with a crowd transporting teabags for business.

He would expect the security to the palace to be much stronger.

Then a word stood out from the muted sounds. "-the Noahs attacked them the last time right?"

Kanda slipped a glance near two buddies queuing to buy food from a stand. One was black haired, the other had a head of dull brown

"Yeah. So it's strange that they are planning it again."

Cobalt narrowed as he replaced his hat properly, leaning a thud closer.

"Yeah. But where did you hear that from?"

"Hm, well it's just rumors spreading from the guards you know…"

"Heh, you think that's reliable? They wouldn't do that randomly would they?"

"Who knows…"

The other words became muffled as they grabbed their buns from the stall, pacing deftly away to join the throng marching the main city route. He vaguely caught words of complain for the food they had in their hands.

"Che. " Kanda huffed as he picked up his leaning stance and weaved once again into the crowd.

He needed to get closer if there's any chance of getting more information…

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It was nearly midnight.

"And… you are so sure he's headed for the Noahs?" The prince beside him raised an eyebrow as they dashed for the city's exit before it closed, wonderfully kicking the white and black ball through their paths at the same time.

Air gushed against them and the jacket Allen had put on fluttered on his back.

Silver eyed the rolling equipment on the ground in near incredibility as they bolded through the empty street, before he turned back to the front and spoke.

"He's not been spotted at all in all the twenty famous brothels and eight bars here." He paused, measuring the distance left to the gate with narrowed gaze. They had half the main street left. "It's impossible. Totally impossible if he had been here."

"Heh… You don't think you should give your master more credits?" The face under the cloak of the overall broke into a grin.

Allen resisted pulling his eye in a childish measure. "No way."

Besides, he had thought about the possibility he might turn and go west…

Their footsteps echoed in the silent street, the half moon in the dark skies shone bright. It seemed unusual that he hadn't been seeing Kanda for two days now, after all the many days he had been beside the man all twenty four around.

He blinked from his idle thoughts as a groan reached his ears.

A creak followed soon and he snapped his eyes at the gradually closing large brown gates.

"Wait!" He cried, which turned the attention of the soldiers handling the motion.

Yes, now!

Allen pushed his heels back and leapt.

* * *

He paced easily through the retiring crowd.

Amidst their clearing up of stalls and stands, no one bothered with the fact that a red haired man strode through the middle of the city route with a large case in tow.

Fingers flipped casually through the few sheets of paper in his right hand, Cross narrowed his downturn brown eyes at the scribbling on the upper right corner on one.

_One sun two fires  
Te who loves to brighten up others' day  
Tho' who wants nil but forgotten memories  
Song drifts across the country  
The book shall always live  
Hearts shall call  
For the rightful four_

It seemed a randomly written poem upon a random music score but his keen eye already knew otherwise back in the library.

His gaze had stopped acutely at 'one', 'song', 'book' and 'four' back then. And there had hardly been any mistaking the innuendo behind it.

This time, however, Cross found himself staring at the phrase 'forgotten memories'.

It was the bet he had staked on when he went looking for Allen.

He thought the kid would be able to give some directions as to where they lived in the past. That would have been faster. But well, he had not thought that idiot pupil would have gotten caught so easily after all the trouble he went through to save him.

Although, it was safe to say the brat was safe within the curly haired's place, at least.

So basically he had gone about looking for directions in his own alternative ways and it had been a success.

He turned yet another corner as he wandered deeper into the residence area.

It was nearly a maze if one did not know their ways. But sadly, Cross Marian knew his way.

A smirk crept up upon his features and his footsteps slowed to a halt before a worn out wooden door. Or was it straw? He leaned his case upon the side wall before he shifted toward the entrance.

He did not bother with polite knocking.

He slammed his palm into the dusty wood, an eyebrow twitching at the filthiness before he banged a volley upon the resident.

There was scurrying behind, gasps, and the door whipped open in a beat.

The lady in sight had brown hair tied in a loose low ponytail, brown eyes accompanying those hair colors. She wore a uniform - though tattered, was definitely one of a maid or housekeeper. She seemed middle aged, for those eyes and attires told much of life experience, but she had no wrinkles.

Cross had to smile mentally that she was at least a decent look.

The red haired leaned his face near, bringing out a frequently used light smirk.

"Yo pretty miss. Do you think we can talk for a while?"

The said female only inched a feet backward as hazel colored eyes grew distant.

The door slammed close in his face before Cross could blink.

* * *

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_It's short, quite. Again._

_:\ _

_Well, happy new year guys! _  
_Bid goodbye to 2012... Seriously, time flies too fast. Especially during holidays. Geez._

_Don't forget to review haha~_


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